Ardeths Terrible Return Journey
by tanith2
Summary: Sequel to 'How Could It Happen' Iwill get this finished in the next couple of days
1. Default Chapter

Disclaimers – I own no-one, Steve Sommers does.  
  
Rating – PG13  
  
Summery – Ardeth thought all what happened in Germany was over – he was wrong. Credit must be given to Ladybug who helped with the title of this story.  
  
Ardeths Terrible Return Journey  
  
Chapter One  
  
The Visit  
  
It had been six months since Ardeths experience in Germany. He was getting over it slowly, at least everyone thought he was. Only Alex knew different.  
  
He had become Ardeths second in command since Masala had his own tribe and it had been a unanimous vote with the rest of the Med-jai. Alex was thrilled about it although his parents had reservations. He was to get the tattoos done when he had been with them a year and then he would go through the official ceremony to become a Med-jai. Anyway, he was there when Ardeth had the nightmares.  
  
At first it had been nearly every night then it started to get less and less until it was about one a week. Ardeth would wake up shouting, covered in sweat and shaking. All Alex could do was hold him till he calmed down and went back to sleep.  
  
He couldn't begin to imagine what the man had gone through out there, all he could do was be there and help him.  
  
"You're a good friend Alex. I don't know that I could have got this far without you"  
  
"I'll always be here for you, you are like a second father to me and I am proud to stand by your side" replied Alex.  
  
Ardeth smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. He was growing into a fine young man and reminded Ardeth of himself when he was that age. Strong, brave and ready to take on anything and anyone.  
  
"I think we have both been through things that we would rather forget. You at a very early age. We will both get stronger because of it, I hope"  
  
One day, Alex had been to Cairo to see his parents. His mum was surprised to see how grown-up he had become and he looked so different in the Med-jai robes.  
  
"Are you happy Alex?" asked Evy.  
  
"Very mum, I love it out there. Don't worry about me"  
  
She hugged him and was so proud of him, she understood why he had become a Med-jai. It could also have been something to do with her past as a pharaohs daughter. Rick was out on a dig somewhere and they laughed about him finding another mummy.  
  
"I hope not Alex, I think I found enough for all of us. How's Ardeth?"  
  
Alex told her he was fine and back to his old self. He never mentioned the dreams.  
  
"Oh by the way Alex, a letter came here for Ardeth. Would you give it too him" she said.  
  
"Of course. I will see you in a couple of weeks anyway. Hopefully dad will be back then and Jonathan"  
  
He left after having lunch with her and rode out to the Med-jai camp, where he gave the letter to Ardeth. He opened it and read it and then told Alex what it said.  
  
"Father Shandor is coming to Egypt on business or something and wants to see us while he is here. He arrives next week" said Ardeth.  
  
"That's great, be nice to see him again"  
  
"Will also be a good time to thank him for helping me get back here"  
  
In the back of his mind, Alex wondered why Father Shandor wanted to come all the way to Egypt on business when he could have sent someone else. His work was in Germany and Romania, getting people in and out of the country, especially out. Still there was nothing he could do about it till he arrived and then they would both find out what he really wanted.  
  
He actually arrived about five days later in fact but it was another three before he rode out to the camp.  
  
"Ardeth, it is so good to see you" he said hugging them "You look so much better than when I last saw you"  
  
"I feel it, I must say. It is a pleasure to have you here. Will you be able to stay long?"  
  
"Only a couple of days I am afraid, I have to return to Romania. There was some business I had to take care of that couldn't be left to anyone else"  
  
He settled into the camp and then after a meal, they all sat down to talk and Ardeth told him what had happened to him after the man had left. He was grateful for all the help Father Shandor had given him. The Father asked if Ardeth wanted to know what was going on out there.  
  
"I want to know Father" he replied "Don't be afraid to tell me because of what happened"  
  
"I didn't want to bring back any bad memories for you"  
  
Ardeth told him about the dreams and said he would never forget what had happened to him, those experiences would always be a part of him.  
  
"Okay, you remember Treblinka and Auschwitz?"  
  
"Yes what about them?" asked Ardeth.  
  
Some of this Alex had not heard about before and listened intently to what the Father was saying.  
  
"We traveled into Poland a couple of months ago. We had to find four British airmen that had been shot down and were hiding there. It took us a while but we eventually found them just outside a place called Kracow. This of course is where Birkenau and Auschwitz are located. What we saw from a little way away and from what some of the locals told us, those who weren't afraid to speak out, appalled us. We had heard stories about the places as you had and I must admit, I did think that some of them were exaggerated."  
  
Suddenly a man came in the tent and asked to see Ardeth outside, he told them that he wouldn't be a minute.  
  
"Do you think it is wise to tell Ardeth all this?" asked Alex "You have seen him when he has these dreams"  
  
"Well he said he wanted to know. But if you think it's best not to"  
  
"Not to what?" asked Ardeth coming back in.  
  
"Alex was wondering if I should tell you about this, he is worried about you" said Father Shandor.  
  
"Look Alex, I know you are trying to help me but protecting me from everything isn't a good idea. You forget I go into Cairo and I have people who tell me things. I am fine my friend and I am grateful for your concern"  
  
Alex nodded and they listened as Father Shandor continued his story.  
  
"Well, from this hidden place that we were in, we could see the landing ramps as they are called. This is where the trains arrive carrying new prisoners. Some of them are made up of about sixty covered wagons. Inside are the old and the young, men, women and children. SS guards stood at the ramps of each truck, some with dogs and rifles pointed. They were herded out and those that fell or were ill, were shot and left. Then they were put in lines and a man at the front of the lines, seemed to point, either to the left or right. We saw families separated, women and children screaming, oh the screaming, it echoed round the area. The locals who were with us told us that one line, I can't remember if it was the left or right hand line, were going straight to the gas chambers"  
  
"Gas chambers, what the hell are they?" asked Alex.  
  
"They are rooms that the people think they are going to have a shower in. but instead of water, they are gassed and then their bodies are put into the furnace. You can see that chimney for miles, smoke and flames coming out of the top, twenty-four hours a day. We have information that they can gas and burn over 5,000 people a day"  
  
Ardeth sat there and looked shocked at what the man was telling him. He had seen a bit of it when he was there but he knew nothing of the magnitude of what was going on.  
  
"I can't believe that they are getting away with this" he replied "Killing all those people and for what reason"  
  
"The reason that they are Jews. Hitler wants to rid Europe of all of them, I told you that before but now it is worse. Death camps are springing up all over the place. Treblinka, Sobibor, Chelmno to name three and of course, Auschwitz. Only a few of the German people know what is happening and they are too scared to say anything. Others know and ignore it. You forget, the Jews are not popular, many would be glad to see the back of them"  
  
Alex went and got them some more coffee and coming back in handed it to the two men.  
  
"So, there are four main death camps that you know of, could there be more?"  
  
"Oh yes, no doubt about it. These are the ones that we know of. I know there are more and of course the concentration camps are no better. The people in them are worked to death and starved"  
  
"Right, if that is the case, then at least 20,000 people are dying every day in these camps. That's 140,000 a week" said Alex.  
  
"That is right, of course it all depends on things working properly. I was told that if the furnaces pack up, they are without them for a few days. Then they get a back log of bodies. I would say 5000 a day is pushing it, on average it could be as few as 1000"  
  
It was getting late and Ardeth suggested that they turned in for the night, they could finish talking the next day. Father Shandor thanked him for the food and retired to the tent he had been given. Alex was just about to leave Ardeth when he turned to him, his face angry.  
  
"You know what I'd like to do, go there, take a sword and kill this Hitler. Is that wrong of me?"  
  
"No Alex, I am sure a lot of people would like to do that. He will pay, one day he will pay for all this, believe me."  
  
Ardeth laid on the bed and thought about what had been said. He hoped he would be able to sleep and not have one of his nightmares because of what Father Shandor had said. Thinking brought back the memories and the fear. But he was okay, he slept all night without waking once, in fact Alex had to come and wake him the next day.  
  
"Ardeth, come on wake up. It is a lovely day out there" said Alex.  
  
"Alex…why are you so full of life this time in the morning. Have pity on your elders please" replied Ardeth shaking his head as he took the coffee handed to him.  
  
"You know what that is, Ardeth, it is called old age" laughed Alex as he exited the tent rather quickly.  
  
"Alex O'Connell, if you want to become a Med-jai you will have respect" shouted Ardeth getting up and going to the tent door.  
  
Alex looked back and saw him as he stuck his head out of the tent and so the young man ride past on his horse.  
  
"And less of the old" smiled the Arab commander as he watched him leave.  
  
He called one of the men over and asked where Father Shandor was, the man told him that he had gone walking over the dunes at six that morning. Ardeth nodded and told him that he would eat and then go after him.  
  
Getting on his horse, he rode out in the direction that the father had gone and soon found him sitting on top a sand dune, watching the wind blow the sand. He heard Ardeth arrive and dismounting walked over to where he was sitting.  
  
"Your country is beautiful Ardeth, see how the sand swirls round in little whirlwinds, changing the landscape all the time"  
  
"Yes, it is lovely, that is why I live here. It has it's dangers but I could never live anywhere else"  
  
He sat beside Father Shandor and they talked about Ardeths home. Then the man got up and standing beside the Father….  
  
"Why are you here?" he asked.  
  
  
  
"I told you Ardeth, I had business in Cairo"  
  
"No, anyone could have done that. What is the real reason?"  
  
Father Shandor sighed and looked up at Ardeth, who was still looking across the sand.  
  
"No-one can pull the wool over your eyes, can they my friend?"  
  
"People have tried, few have succeeded" he said looking at the man seated on the sand.  
  
"I'm sorry Ardeth. I didn't know how to ask you, I have no right to ask you. But there is no-one else. If you say no, then I will leave and no more shall be said on the subject"  
  
"You want me to return to Romania with you, don't you?"  
  
"Yes, I need your help. It will be dangerous, I won't tell you different. You could end up in a worse situation than last time, all I ask is you think about it"  
  
"Tell me what you need and I promise… I will think about it. I can promise no more"  
  
Father Shandor took him by the hand and thanked him. Ardeth suggested that they took this back to the camp, there was a sand storm coming up and he didn't want to be caught out in one. They got back to the tents with only a few minutes to spare before the storm hit.  
  
Father Shandor looked worried but Ardeth assured him that it wouldn't last that long and that they were safe in the tent. He asked him to explain why he wanted him to go back to Romania. 


	2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two  
  
With the sand storm raging outside the tents, Ardeth and Father Shandor sat down to talk.  
  
"About two months ago, we were in Poland and got ambushed by some Germans while we were helping some locals out. I lost five of my brother monks including John, who you met. Peter and myself got away with a handful of locals. If it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have come to ask your help"  
  
"I am sorry to hear about your people but that doesn't tell me why you want me to go back"  
  
"When a lot of the villages were raided, some of the local people that weren't Jewish took in some of the children, to safe them from going to the camps. But now it is becoming dangerous for them to carry on looking after them. They need to be got out and taken somewhere safe. Our monastery in Romania"  
  
Ardeth listened and guessed this was why he had asked for his help. He poured them some more coffee and wondered when the storm would ease up, although they were quite safe where they were.  
  
"Where are these children?" he asked.  
  
"Mainly in Austria. The only fairly safe way in now, is across the Med and up the Adriatic Sea to Yugoslavia, up through Austria and then across to Romania. We pick up the children on route. If you agree to help, that will make five of us. Samuel and Rudi will meet us in Austria, with the first lot of children."  
  
"How many will there be altogether?"  
  
"About twenty I think. Once they are at the monastery there is nothing that the Germans can do. We are more or less out of bounds to them."  
  
While they had been talking, the storm had stopped almost as suddenly as it had started. Ardeth told the Father to get himself something to eat and rest, he wanted to talk to Alex. Then he would think about what had been asked of him.  
He found Alex rounding up a few of the horses that had got away. When he had finished he came over to his friend and he could see he was worried.  
  
"I need to talk to you Alex" he said "it's about Father Shandor?"  
  
Ardeth nodded and started to walk to the camp fire that one of the men had got going again and sat down. Alex sat beside him and waited for him to speak. He told him what the Father had wanted and Alex got up and walked up and down while having a go at his friend.  
  
"Ardeth, you are mad, you can't even consider going back there after what happened. He has no right to even ask you. For Gods sake he was the one who found you and brought you home" he said loudly.  
  
"I know, I know, but he needs me, he has lost a few of his monks or he wouldn't be asking me at all"  
  
"Well there must be other people he could ask. You have to say no Ardeth. It has only been six months since you got back and you are still having those dreams"  
  
Ardeth got up and stopped Alex from pacing up and down before he wore a hole in the sand. He pushed him down onto one of the small stools and stood in front of him.  
  
"Look I know you are worried, so am I but there are children involved in this and I can't stand by on this one. But I want you to come with me"  
  
Alex looked at him and saw by his face and in his eyes that he was serious and wouldn't be dissuaded from this.   
  
"Well I am not telling mum and dad, they'll kill me and you. Won't you say no Ardeth please"  
  
"I can't, you know I won't refuse when it involves children. I am sorry Alex but I have to go. I will be alright, I can't not do anything because of what happened in Germany. I am a commander not a coward"  
  
"Oh Ardeth, I never said you were a coward, but you don't have to put yourself in danger to prove a point"  
  
Ardeth walked back to the tents and Alex followed him in to where Father Shandor was resting. He got up when the two men came in.  
  
"When do we leave Father?"  
  
"The ship leaves in three days. Are you sure about this. It won't be easy but if necessary I will find someone else" said the man.  
  
"I am sure. My oath as a Med-jai insists that I help where I can, despite the danger. Alex is coming with us"  
  
Father Shandor shook his hand and they sat and worked out when they were going to leave and the route that they were going to take.  
What they didn't know was that Masala had heard them talking, he was there to see Ardeth on routine matters and he was shocked that Ardeth was even considering going there again and even more so about Alex, his parents wouldn't be very happy even though he had chosen to become a Med-jai.  
The more he thought about it, the more he decided he had to try and stop him from going. The only way was to go and see Evy and see if they could stop them. They might listen to them. Without even seeing Ardeth, he got back on his horse and rode off.  
  
"So that is the route we will take?" asked Alex.  
  
"Yes, we will go through the Med and up the Adriatic, past the little islands and land at Rabac. I have made reservations on the cargo ship 'Cuban' It is taking supplies to some of the islands. Should take us about ten days to get there"  
  
"You were that sure that I would go" said Ardeth.  
  
"No, about 80% sure and we can soon get you a place on board Alex"  
  
"Well you know I am not happy about this after what happened last time, that is why i am going to" he said.  
  
"Look I know what Ardeth went through and he can say no"  
  
It would take them a day to get the stuff ready and make their way to the port to board the ship. Neither were looking forward to going but some things were important and Ardeth couldn't turn his back when it came to children. After what he had seen and gone through, which wasn't that bad compered to some, he had to help Father Shandor. If they could save just a few, it would all be worth while.  
Masala arrived at the O'Connells the next day and knocked on the door of their house. Evy answered it and was surprised and pleased to see the man standing there.  
  
"Masala, how lovely to see you, come in. Rick isn't here at the moment, has been held up on the dig he went to. Should be back in a few days, you will wait for him"  
  
"Hello Evy, thank you but I can't stay that long. Did you know that Father Shandor is here in Egypt?"  
  
She took him into the study and offered him a drink, which he accepted and then he sat down.  
  
"No, I didn't know he was here, maybe I will see him before he leaves. Where is he at the moment?"  
  
"Evy, he is at our camp, he has persauded Ardeth to go back to Germany with him again"  
  
Evy stopped dead in her tracks and turned to Masala, her face quite pale.  
  
"He's done what, is he mad, what the bloody hell is he thinking of?" she yelled "He was the one who found Ardeth and knows what he went through out there. It took months for him to get over that. Well I am going to give him a piece of my mind"  
  
She went to get here coat, she was all ready to go with Masala back to the camp to have a go at Father Shandor. How could he even think of asking their friend to go back.  
  
"It wouldn't be any good, by the time we got to the camp, they would be on the ship. They were getting ready to leave when I came here. They have no idea that I know, let alone that I have come to tell you"  
  
He had a funny look on his face and Evy knew he wasn't telling her everything. She asked him what he was keeping from her.  
  
"Masala, what is it, what are you not telling me?"  
  
"I'm sorry Evy, but Alex has agreed to go as well"  
  
"No…no way…no way on earth is my son going out there, I don't care what Father Shandor says. It is bad enough worrying about Ardeth, I am not going to go through worrying about my son too. I am going to kill that man, I swear Masala. When does the ship leave?"  
  
"Day after tomorrow I think. What are you going to do?"  
  
"Come on, we are going to go to the ship and wait for them and then I am going to give Shandor a piece of my mind and then I'm bringing Alex and Ardeth back here. God help anyone who tries to stop me"  
  
All Masala could do was follow her as she stormed out and got in the car and drove off towards the port where the ship would be moored. Masala got on his horse and galloped after her, only catching her as she screeched to a halt at the ship. It had to be the one, it was the only one there. It was going to be a long wait.  
As the small group of men reached the end of the wharf leading up to the ship, Alex called out to the others to stop.  
  
"Alex what is it?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"My mother, Evy is sitting in the car waiting for us and Masala is with her. Shit that is all I need"  
  
"He must have heard us talking, Mohamid told me he had been at the camp" replied Ardeth.  
  
They rode up to the car and Evy stood there, her arms folded and tapping her foot. As soon as they got off their horses, she flew at all of them. It took them a while to try and calm her down, Alex taking her by the arm to the back of the car.  
  
"Mum I have to go. Someone has to keep an eye on Ardeth, I don't want him to go any more than you do but he won't say no"  
  
"I'm not going to sit here wondering if you two are dead or not, Father Shandor can do what he wants but he is not taking you with him"  
  
Ardeth came over and took Evy aside, Alex stood with Father Shandor who kept saying he shouldn't have come and that he would go alone. They could see Ardeth and Evy having a real argument and then he pulled her into his arms and held her tight. Alex had never seen him do that before and he wondered if they are sorted it out.  
They walked over to where the other three men were standing and Evy was wiping her face, she had been crying but she had her arms wrapped around Ardeth.  
  
"Okay, Ardeth has explained why he is going and although I am still mad at you Father Shandor, I understand, a bit. But I warn you, if anything happens to him or my son, I will hunt you down and I will personally kill you. You will wish the Germans had arrested you by the time I have finished with you, do you understand"  
  
"Yes Mrs O'Connell. I am sorry that I had to ask but there was no-one else. These children will die if something is not done"  
  
They all said goodbye and Evy hugged Alex really hard, saying all the things a mother says to her son where they are going away.  
  
"I'll be fine mum, we all will, I love you" he said.  
  
She let him go and had tears running down her cheek, she knew he wasn't a child any more, he was a grown man and he had been through more than most people had at his age. Then she went to Ardeth and hugged him, telling him to be careful and to take care of Alex.  
  
"We will be fine and will be back in no time, I promise" he said.  
  
Then just as he was going to walk up the ramp, he went back and took her in his arms and kissed her, not on the cheek but full on the lips. Alex looked on and smiled at his guts, he would never have done that is his dad was there.  
  
"Sorry, I just had to do that, have wanted to for a long time, please forgive me" he said  
  
"Nothing to forgive Ardeth…you come back to us in one piece okay" she replied.  
  
He nodded and walked up the ramp, it was taken away and the ships horn sounded as it pulled away from the dock slowly. The men stood on the deck and waved to her and Masala standing there watching.   
  
"Why did he kiss me like that Masala?" she asked tears running down her face.  
  
"Because he loves you, he has for a long time" he replied.  
  
She looked at him, shocked and then smiling, touching her lips, she waved at the men on the ship, hoping that she would see them in one piece again. Now she had to tell Rick when he got back, that wasn't going to be easy.  
As the ship got under way, they went to their cabins in the crews quarters. It was quite a large ship for the time and the crew were at half strength, so they had a cabin of sorts, each.  
Ardeth went back on deck as soon as he had unpacked his things. He had an apology to make to Alex, for kissing his mother in front of everyone. He didn't know why he had done it, nor where the courage had come from either. He had loved her ever since he had first met her but she was always interested in Rick and then they married and it put her off limits.  
  
"Alex…I am sorry…I shouldn't have…"  
  
"Ardeth, don't say anything, I know you love my mum, I have known for a long time. I'm glad…really"  
  
Ardeth was going to ask what he meant but he decided to leave it for the time being but he would find out why he had said that. He walked to the bow of the ship and stood watching the sea spread out in front of them and wondered what the next few weeks would bring. He also wondered if he would be able to cope with being back there, he was getting nervous already but he would keep his feelings to himself. At least for now. 


	3. Chapter Three

Sorry this is taking longer than normal but I want to get the research right for this one. Please bear with me, thanks.  
  
Chapter Three  
  
Evy stood with Masala and watched the ship until it was out of sight and then they drove back to the house. She invited him in to freshen up while she cooked him a meal. They were both tired from waiting at the dock and then watching them go.  
  
"Please Masala, stay, I don't fancy being alone tonight"  
  
"Okay, thank you, I'll leave in the morning" he replied.  
  
After what happened at the dock, she needed to speak to him, so while he washed up, she cooked and was dishing it out when he walked in the kitchen.  
  
"Sit down and eat, I hope you like it, it's not what you are used to but"  
  
"Evy it looks wonderful, I'm starving"  
  
Later they sat in the study and chatted about all sorts of things, Evy trying to avoid what she wanted to ask him.  
  
"You haven't mentioned Ardeth once tonight, I think I know the reason. Why were you so surprised when he kissed you like that?"  
  
"I…I wasn't expecting it, I never knew he felt like that about me"  
  
"He has for a long time, but then you married Rick and he didn't pursue it"  
  
She didn't answer and watched as he walked around the room looking at the books on the shelf. Then he turned back to her.  
  
"I am not a fool Evy, I know what has been going on with Rick. He isn't on a dig is he? He's left"  
  
Evy burst into tears, all the weeks of keeping it to herself and what had happened at the docks, over flowed. Masala went over and sitting beside her, put an arm round her.  
  
"I'm sorry, I thought I was the only one who knew. Does Ardeth?"  
  
"No, I never told him, wasn't my place, what happened?"  
  
She told him that things were never the same after they came back from Ahm Shere all those years ago. A lot of it was her and he had started drinking again, the arguments they had and the fact he was away a lot without her, had taken it's toll.   
Then when they brought Ardeth back from Germany, they had had a massive argument over Alex joining the Med-jai and he had walked out. A week later, he came back to say that he was leaving.  
  
"Where is he?"  
  
"South America, he got a steamer and said he would be back one day, perhaps. I haven't told Alex nor Jonathan, but I think Alex knows something is wrong"  
  
"I'm sorry Masala, I should have told them ages ago, but I always hoped that he was bluffing."  
  
"That's why you are so upset about Ardeth and Alex going to Germany"  
  
"Yes, I couldn't lose them too and Ardeth went through so much last time, he might not be so lucky this time round and with Alex there, I could lose him as well"  
  
"They'll be back, I swear they'll be back. Try not to worry, they all know how to take care of themselves and they will have help out there. Ardeth has to help, if it had been anything else other than children he might well have said no"  
  
Evy nodded and went to make some coffee, hoping that Masala was right and that she had a chance to tell Alex and Ardeth about Rick.  
  
************  
  
The ship took about two weeks to get to Rabac in Yugoslavia and they had been quite ill on the journey. The weather had been very bad not long out of Egypt and they had to content with U-boats in the area and had to zig-zag across the Adriatic in really bad storms. At last they arrived at the port and waited till night fall before disembarking from the ship, there were a lot of German soldiers waiting for their convoys to take them somewhere else.  
  
"I will be glad to get on dry land" said Alex "I have never felt so sick in all my life"  
  
"Even affected me this time" replied Ardeth "I don't normally notice it"  
  
"What have you done to your face?" Alex asked.  
  
"It's some stuff I brought with me, I rub it over the tattoos and it hides them. It will be fine as long as I keep it topped up"  
  
"Well it looks good, strange to see you without tattoos. Where do we go from here?"  
  
"We cross the border about thirty miles from here and then make our way to Buzet where there is an old farmhouse where we can stay for a couple of days" said Father Shandor.  
  
Avoiding the soldiers, they made it off the ship and disappeared into the darkness. It was raining which helped them somewhat although they hoped it would stop else they would be soaked before they even reached the farm.  
They found getting across the border was easy and all they had to do was keep to the trees to stop being seen. Father Shandor was surprised in the fact that there were so many German soldiers around.  
  
"There must be some maneuvers going on, there shouldn't be that many soldiers here"  
  
"What do you think is going on" asked Alex.  
  
They were laying on their stomachs, watching the men march past towards the border. It was uncomfortable as they were laying in water from the little stream that ran from higher up the valley.  
After about an hour of laying there, they were able to move when the last of the soldiers disappeared. They were cold and made all haste to get to Buzet. They stopped about half way to rest and eat. There was a wood and they found a place in there that was well hidden from the tracks.  
  
"We'll rest here for a couple of hours and then carry on" said Father Shandor.  
  
Alex was leaning against a tree drinking the coffee while Ardeth and Father Shandor looked at the map. He still felt a bit sick and it was very cold. He pulled the thick coat around him and closed his eyes.  
  
"Alex, we're leaving, come on" said Ardeth putting the things in the bag.  
  
Father Shandor noticed he had his eyes closed and went over to wake him up.   
  
"Come on, let's go" he said shaking Alex.  
  
"What…yeah okay" he replied.  
  
Trying to get up, he found he couldn't as his head started to spin and he was sick. The other two rushed over to him.  
  
"Alex are you alright?" asked Ardeth placing a hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Yeah, my stomach hasn't settled from that ship yet, I'll be fine"  
  
Alex got up and walked to where the stuff was and picked up his bag, the other two looked at one another. They didn't believe him but would leave it for the moment.  
  
"How far is it to the farmhouse?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"About another fifteen miles, shouldn't take us that long" he replied.  
  
There was no way Alex was going to tell them how he was feeling, which was lousy. One minute he was hot, the next he was cold, his head was thumping and the sickness was always just below the surface but he walked on with the others, hoping they would get to their destination quickly.  
Surprisingly it didn't take long to get to the farmhouse and they went inside after checking that there was no-one around. It was nearly dark and Father Shandor placed some heavy blankets over the windows so that they could light the lamps.  
  
"There is plenty of straw through that door, that is where we sleep tonight. Used to be for the cattle, the people here keep it next to the house. Alex you feeling better now?" asked Father Shandor.  
  
"Yeah, much" he lied going to have a look in the room.  
  
An hour later they were eating some soup that they had made and some rather bitter coffee but it was better than nothing. Ardeth and the Father said they would take a look round outside and then settle down for the night. While they were outside, Alex poured the soup away, he couldn't eat it, he felt worse and just wanted to go to sleep. When they came back in they found he had gone and laid down in the straw and was asleep.  
  
"He must have been tired" said Ardeth "Still he is not the only one"  
  
"No, I think we are safe here without having to keep guard but we will keep the guns handy, just in case. We leave in the morning"  
  
"Where are we meeting Samuel?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"At a place called Obervellach, about 150 miles away"  
  
As they got comfortable in the straw, Ardeth asked if they intended to walk all the way.  
  
"No, there is an old car in the barn at the back of this place. Should still be okay, we used it before. That will get us to Seeboden, from there we walk, to an old medieval castle, that is where Samuel will be"  
  
Father Shandor wasn't sure if Ardeth had heard all that because when he looked at him, he was asleep. He snuggled down in the straw and hoped there weren't any rats, he hated rats. But it was warm and the sky had been full of snow just before dusk. They had to get to the castle before any heavy snow slowed them down.  
Ardeth woke to a noise and in the dim light saw Alex disappear out of the door. Guessing where he had gone, he turned over and went back to sleep. He was woken again by Father Shandor shouting for him. He hurried into the other room and saw the Father kneeling beside Alex.  
  
"What's happened, what's wrong with him?"  
  
"I heard him get up and waited to hear him come back. When he didn't I came to see where he was, I found him laying here. He's burning up with a fever, that is what has been wrong with him"  
  
"But he said he was alright, he seemed to be"  
  
He helped the Father to carry him through and lay him on the straw. He opened his eyes as they laid him down.  
  
"Alex why didn't you tell us you were ill?"  
  
"I'm…fine…just cold" he whispered before collapsing back into the straw.  
  
"What do we do now?"  
  
"Well for the rest of the time we are here, we have to try and get that temperature down, then we will have to wrap him up warm in the car"  
  
The next morning, Father Shandor went to get the car ready while Ardeth stayed with Alex. He was still out of it, sort of and still had the temperature, but they had managed to get some fluids into him.  
They wrapped a couple of the blankets round him and laid him in the back of the car, Ardeth sitting next to Father Shandor as they drove off towards Seeboden.  
Driving none stop along all the tracks and lanes, they made good time, Ardeth kept checking on Alex in the back and he was still very hot, but he was awake and trying to stay that way. The weather had held off and although it still looked like snow, it hadn't started yet. Father Shandor decided to take the car as far as he could up the old track which ran round the mountain to Obervellach on the other side.  
  
"Right we can't go any further, there is not enough room to get a car along there. The castle is over there, about two miles away. If it had snowed last night then we would never have got this far. We have been very lucky" said Father Shandor "I'll get the stuff, you get Alex"  
  
Ardeth helped the young man out of the car and was going to carry him but Alex stopped him.  
  
"I can walk if you help me, it isn't that far. I will not be carried"  
  
"But you are too weak to walk Alex, just do as you are told"  
  
"No, help me Ardeth, I'll be fine"  
  
The man tried to argue with him but Alex was adamant that he was feeling better and would rest when they got there.  
Rudi was on the top of the castle when he saw the three men walking towards the castle. Using the binoculars, he saw that it was Father Shandor and called down to Samuel.  
  
"Father Shandor is here but one of them looks hurt"  
  
Samuel waved and opened the great door of the castle and went outside to look. Rudi came up beside him panting, he had run all the way down from the battlements.  
  
"Tell Helga and Ester we need their help now" shouted Samuel as he ran towards the three men."  
  
Father, Ardeth, it is great to see you safe, but your friend, he is hurt?"  
  
"No, he has a fever, we need to get him somewhere warm" said Ardeth.  
  
"Come, bring him into the castle, Helga and Ester will take care of him"  
  
Rudi took Alex and despite protests, carried him into the castle and up the stairs, followed by the two women.  
  
"He will be well taken care of, don't worry. Come let us get you food and drink. This is the safest place for miles around"  
  
They followed him into a massive great kitchen where the fire was roaring and four children were sitting at the table, peeling vegetables. They smiled at the men as they came in.  
  
"This is Father Shandor and Ardeth, their friend Alex is not very well and is upstairs. This is Aaron, Batia, Rachel and Joel. They are the first of the children that we have to get to Romania"  
  
"Who were the two women?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"They are two people from the village who have been helping us. Don't worry they will take good care of your friend. He will be well in no time. Please sit down and help yourself to food, then you can rest or read while we are here. There is a wonderful library here"  
  
"Why haven't the Germans taken over this place?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"Because it belongs to someone very high up in what was the Austrian Government. He agreed to give the Germans what they wanted, ie the towns and factories if they agreed to leave the castle alone. They did. They have no interest in an old castle, they needed the factories and power plants, it was the only way they could get them peacefully you might say"  
  
"Does anyone know you are here?" asked Ardeth   
  
"No I don't think so, we haven't had any problems, but we keep watch just in case"  
  
Just then Helga came in and told them that Alex was asleep and although he was still running a temperature, he would be fine in a couple of days.  
  
"It is only flu Sir" she said "Please don't worry"  
  
"Do you want to go and see him, I'll show you where you can sleep at the same time. You will have to get used to the size of the rooms, they are huge but very comfortable."  
  
"Can we afford to be here a couple of days?" asked Father Shandor.  
  
"Yes, as long as we can reach Linz by the end of November, we will be okay. That is when the weather closes in here, you remember some of that from last time Ardeth. Being around mountains when the snow is fresh is too dangerous. Avalanches etc. not only that we want to be in Romania before the winter really sets in"  
  
Ardeth checked on Alex and finding him asleep and being looked after very well by the two women, he left to go to the room that Samuel had given him. He shut the door and went over to the window.  
Why had Samuel reminded him of the winter last time he was there, he had been trying to keep the memories at the back of his mind. Suddenly being made to think of them, made him shiver, as though someone had walked over his grave.   
He just hoped that they would make it to Romania okay. Things had been going too well so far, with the exception of the flu that Alex had and he was worried. 


	4. Chapter Four

Chapter Four  
  
Within three days, Alex was up and about and helping with the children that were already there. Ardeth was with Father Shandor and Samuel, getting the things ready for the rest of their journey. They were going to leave the next day and Alex had been given the job of sorting out some warm clothing for these children.  
  
"That is great Alex, should keep them nice and warm" said Samuel on his return.  
  
"You are feeling better?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"I feel great, thanks for looking after me Samuel" he replied.  
  
In the early hours of the morning, Alex had gone down to get something to drink and saw a shadow sitting by one of the windows, walking over he found it was Ardeth, with a drink in his hand.  
  
"Why are you not resting, we leave this morning" he asked.  
  
"I can't sleep, things have gone too well so far, it isn't right"  
  
"What do you mean, it's good that we have come this far with no trouble"  
  
"Yes…I suppose so but I just have this gut feeling that we are heading for…for something, I'm not sure what"  
  
Alex walked closer with a glass of milk he had poured himself and sat on the opposite side of the window seat with Ardeth. He looked out across the fields as he drank the milk, then he looked at his friend.  
  
"You are really worried aren't you…scared even. I am sure we will get there safely but obviously there are no guarantees. Maybe you shouldn't have come here again, but then it was your duty I suppose"  
  
The other man got up and walked towards the door and then turned to Alex, a rather angry look on his face, that his friend hadn't seen very often.  
  
"Of course I am scared, have you forgotten what happened to me last time I was here. Maybe you are right, maybe I shouldn't have come but I had to prove to myself that I could. Please don't lecture me on duty, I am well aware of my 'duty'. Goodnight Alex"  
  
With that he went up the stairs of the great hall, leaving Alex standing there wishing he had not said anything. Ardeth didn't get angry very often but he was now and he was stubborn and wouldn't rest until he had proved his point even if it meant putting his own life in danger. God he was so much like Rick, thought Alex.  
Later that morning they left the castle, five men and four children at the moment, they would pick others up on the way. It would be a hazardous journey, taking them through the mountains of Austria where the snow was deep and the temperature very cold, especially at night. The air was thin further up the mountains and with the snow, they were easy targets for any Germans patrols.  
By the time they got to the old church, just outside Linz, they were all exhausted and had many minor injuries from rocks and falls. They had also acquired a total of fifteen children now, all ages. A lot of them were ill and all of them were thin from lack of food. The people who had looked after them were poor and hadn't got enough food for themselves because of the Germans.  
There were a few nuns at the church and they made the group comfortable in the crypt under the church. They were part of the local resistance and had helped a lot of people since the war started. The Germans checked randomly but had never found anything so far.  
  
"You will all be comfortable down here" said the Mother Superior "The nuns will bring down food and drink and there are plenty of blankets over there. The children that are sick will be looked after by the nuns and any injures you might have will be seen too"  
  
"Thank you Reverend Mother" said Samuel "all we need to do is rest, we are so tired"  
  
"Here is the food, eat and then sleep. I will lock the gates tonight just in case anyone comes by. When the gates are locked they don't normally bother to check in here"  
  
Alex had not been able to speak to Ardeth about the night in the castle, every time he was going to, something happened to stop him and now it had been about a month and a half since they had started. They were about two weeks behind schedule, it was now nearly the third week in December.  
It was nice to be able to get out of the fur coats and gloves that had kept them warm in the snow. Ardeth sat in the corner with his food and Alex went over to join him. His left hand was hurting him, he had sprained it badly about two weeks ago and he had taken the gloves off on several occasions because of the pain, now he had a bit of frost bite in it.  
  
"Let's have a look at that hand" said Alex.  
  
"It's okay, now I am warming up it will be fine, how about you, you okay?"  
  
"Yes I'm fine, tired and I ache from all that walking. This place is quite cozy certainly compared from being out there. I hope we can stay here for a while, we can do with the rest"  
  
"What about the others are they okay?" he asked getting comfortable on the small camp bed.  
  
"As far as I know, apart from Rudi, he has the flu and Father Shandor has a cracked rib. Look…I know it is a bit late but I am sorry for what I said at the castle, I didn't mean it to sound the way I did"  
  
Ardeth pulled one of the blankets over him and smiled at the younger man.  
  
"You have been worrying about that all this time. I had forgotten it the next day. If anyone needs to say sorry it is me. You were only trying to help and I had a go at you. Right, let's get some sleep, I can't keep my eyes open any longer"  
  
Alex left him and went to speak to one of the nuns and asked her if she could take a look at his hand the next day. She said she would and wished him goodnight.   
He saw Ardeth the next day and he had his hand in a bandage, the nun had put some stuff on it and done it tight to help the sprain which was still giving him pain. The Mother Superior came down and wanted to speak to the men and took them upstairs to her study where the children couldn't hear what they said.  
  
"I have some papers here that I think you should look at. They were smuggled to me by some of my nuns in other parts of Austria. We work at some of the hospitals and have to take care of the German wounded as well as our own people"  
  
"Isn't that dangerous for you?" asked Alex.  
  
"Yes, but we are safe as long as we do what we are told and help them, doesn't mean we agree with what they are doing. We are doing Gods work, not our own and he said to forgive your enemies. I know that is hard for you to understand but as long as we believe that, we can get on with our work" she said.  
  
They read the papers that she gave them and were shocked at what they said. Father Shandor couldn't believe it had got that bad and held his crucifix.  
  
"How accurate are these?" asked Ardeth handing them to Alex.  
  
"Very, thousands and thousands of Jews and Gypsies are being slaughtered every day at the hands of these monsters. They are being rounded up in every town and village, put into ghettos, that is the ones that are not shot first. Then the ghettos are being cleared and they are sent to the death camps where they are being gassed"  
  
"Well, we have to get these children into Romania" said Father Shandor. "What are you not telling us?"  
  
"I don't think you will get into Romania, there are no routes out of Austria any more that are safe. The German patrols and SS have more or less sealed Austria off, the only things getting out are the transports to the camps"  
  
The Father walked around the study and scratched his head, this was not what he wanted to hear. They had to get the children out of there.  
  
"We'll think of something, I don't know what at the moment but we will think of something" he said.  
  
They thanked her and left the study and went back down to the crypt, to find some of the children. Suddenly one of the nuns came down to tell them to hide and keep quiet, the Germans were there. There was a bustle of activity as they hid in the shadows and waited as the nun locked the gates and walked back up the stairs.  
  
"We have heard rumours that you are hiding some jewish children here, we want to look around. Out of the way" said the German soldier.  
  
"There is no-one here but us nuns and we have to be at the hospital in an hour. But you are quite welcome to look but you won't find anything"  
  
They spent an hour there looking round the place and finally made their way to the crypt and shook the gates but found them locked and boxes in front of them. The soldier shone a torch round and satisfied left.  
  
"We will be back but next time you will have no warning. If you are found to be hiding anyone, you will be shot"  
  
The nuns waited for half an hour before going down to the crypt and letting them know it was all clear.  
  
"They will be back and I can't guarantee that they won't want to look in here next time" said the Reverend Mother.  
  
"That's okay, we will leave in the morning, you have done more than enough to help us. It is more dangerous for you than for us" said Samuel.  
  
"Have you worked out a route yet?" asked Alex.  
  
"Only as far as the border with Hungary, we will have to see how to get across there first. Let's get the things ready so we can leave just before dawn" said Father Shandor.  
  
The next morning they are headed towards Amsetten, about forty miles from Linz. The nuns had warned them to be careful, the Germans were still looking around and they were sure they would be back later that day. What they didn't know was that they had been watching the church all night and saw the group leave.  
  
"You see Sir, they were hiding there" said one of the soldiers "Do we arrest them now?"  
  
"No, we will follow them and wait till they get into open country. If we take the lorry, we can be on the other side of this wood before them. Then we ambush them and arrest them. Round up the men" said the officer.  
  
The soldier ran off to get the rest of the squad who were waiting in the lorry just round the corner. Picking up the two men, the lorry drove off to the place marked by the officer.  
Ardeth and the others were finding it hard going with the children in the snow and it was going to take them a long time to get to Romania. The children were very good though, most of them could walk and those that couldn't were carried. Once at Amsetten, they would find somewhere to spend the night and then go on. If they traveled by day, at least for a while it might be safer for them.  
  
"You okay Alex?" asked Ardeth seeing him struggling.  
  
"Fine, but it is hard carrying someone in this snow and it looks like we are in for some more"  
  
"Every time we come here it is winter" the man said with a smile.  
  
For four days they traveled on, it was very cold as they got a bit higher in the mountains. On the fifth night, they settled down in a little sheltered place that was very well protected from the snow. The kids were asleep almost immediately and the men snuggled under blankets with some hot drinks and soup as that was the easiest to make. They would get some proper food when they reached Amsetten.  
  
"Do you think we will get to Romania okay?" asked Alex.  
  
"I hope so but there are no guarantees, we have been lucky so far but that could run out. We have to be alert and watch out for any German patrols. I have heard tanks or something in the distance a couple of times since we started" said Samuel "How are you finding this weather Alex?"  
  
"Well it is very cold but I am used to cold weather, we lived in London for a few years and it can get very cold there and the fog is so thick sometimes that you can't see a hand in front of your face"  
  
"We get fog here but it is not the same as London" replied Father Shandor "I stayed there a few years ago and you had to wrap something round your mouth, it was so dangerous"  
  
"I didn't know you had been to London" said Ardeth.  
  
"I have been a lot of places, as a monk before the war and as part of the resistance since it started. There are rumors that it will be over in a few months, I hope that is true"   
  
They took it in turns to keep watch in case there was any trouble and would do so right through the night. It was snowing when they moved on the next morning.  
The Germans had been staying in a small barn waiting for the group to arrive where their ambush was. Only two soldiers kept watch and on this morning saw them coming over the fields towards the woods. They hurried back to the barn.  
  
"Sir, they are coming now, should be here in about an hour"  
  
"Right men, get to your positions. Remember I want prisoners, don't kill any of them unless you have to. We get more money for each one that is sent to the camps remember. With this large group, especially the children, we will have quite a few Marks"  
  
They laid in wait about five hundred yards inside the woods and waited. It wasn't long before they saw the group getting closer and as they entered the wood, the some of the soldiers circled behind them to cut them off. As they got to a certain point, the Officer raised his hand and they stood up with guns pointed.  
  
"Halt, raise your hands and drop any weapons, you are surrounded"  
  
Rudi and the others pulled their weapons and fired. The others knew that they were finished if they didn't do something. So shouting at the children to run they scattered in different directions, hoping to fool the Germans and that way at least some of them would escape.  
After about twenty minutes, the Germans had rounded up all the children and three of the men. Father Shandor and Samuel had got away and were watching from a few trees not that far away.  
  
"Damn, they have caught them, they couldn't run very far with the children. Will they shoot them?" asked Samuel.  
  
"I don't know, we can't help them at the moment, we would get killed or taken with them. We have to get some help and rescue them. Let's try and find out where they are being taken"  
  
They circled the group and saw two of the soldiers waiting by the lorry, creeping up behind the two men, Father Shandor knocked one of them out while Samuel grabbed the other and dragged him off into the woods. Holding him down and pointing his own gun at his head, Samuel asked him where the children and his friends were being taken. Not wanting to die, the man told them what they wanted to know.  
  
"They will be taken to Vienna and then put on a train to Auschwitz" he said shaking and wondering if they would kill him or not.  
  
They did, not with the rifle that would be heard but with a knife, straight through the heart. Father Shandor wasn't very happy about it.  
  
"I didn't agree to killing him, he told us what we wanted to know" he said.  
  
"Yes and then he would have told them what he had told us. All they would have done is send Ardeth and the others to another camp. This way we know where they are going and can try and get them out before they reach the place"  
  
Ardeth and the others were loaded onto the lorry and the soldier untied but he knew nothing of what had happened to his comrade. They all looked at each other on the lorry as the soldiers got in with them and they started to drive off.  
  
"Looks like our luck just ran out Ardeth" said Rudi "We will have to play this by ear and escape as soon as there is a chance"  
  
Ardeth looked at Alex and he could see that Alex was scared but he couldn't show him that he was petrified. He felt a sudden Deja vous about the situation and put his arm round one of the children to try and take his mind off what he knew was about to happen to them. 


	5. Chapter Five

Chapter Five  
  
As they rode in the truck, where to they did not know, Ardeth was surprised that the children had not cried or made a fuss at being captured by the Germans. He asked Rudi about it.  
  
"They are so used to it" the man whispered "Half of them have been beaten, tortured and starved, being caught again is just part of life to them"  
  
"Shut up" shouted the German at the end of the truck "Or you will be shot"  
  
They stayed quiet for a while and then Alex asked if they knew where they were being taken. Before either man could answer the German had hit him with the rifle butt and cocked the rifle ready to shoot him when Rudi stopped him.  
  
"He is scared, please, don't shoot him. He will be quiet, I will see to it"  
  
The German put the rifle down and told them that next time he would shoot first. Ardeth wanted to see if Alex was alright but he didn't dare move. After a few minutes, the young man started to wake up and leaning against the side of the truck, held his head where the German had hit him. He went to say something but the girl next to him, raised her hand and placed it on his lips and shook her head.  
Understanding what she meant he kept quiet and looked at Ardeth on the other side of the truck. He made a face that asked if he was okay and Alex nodded. All they could do was settle down and see where they were being taken.  
Back at the woods, Father Shandor and Samuel had come out of their hiding place with five of the children that had managed to get away with them. They were cold and covered in snow from staying in one place for so long.  
  
"I suggest we go back to the church and get the nuns to help us. The Germans won't be back there now and certainly won't think that we have gone back there" said Samuel.  
  
"We have to find Ardeth and the others, we can't just leave them to the Germans" replied Father Shandor.  
  
"We won't be, but there is nothing we can do at the moment, we know where they are being taken and there is no way we can get to them on that transport. The truck will take them to the station, probably in Vienna, that is the nearest place for transports to Auschwitz. Damn, the problem is once they are there, it will be impossible to get them out. We all know what they do there"  
  
Father Shandor gathered his stuff and told the children to stay with Samuel, he had to make his way to Auschwitz somehow and find them. He could never live with himself if anything happened to them, especially Ardeth who should never have come back to Germany, he knew that now.  
  
"Father you must stay with us, be sensible, we will get the help of other resistance people and they can find out better than we can. Come on"  
  
The man knew Samuel was right, but he was feeling guilty and responsible for the safety of the men and children. He would go with Samuel for now and see what they could do from there.  
  
The truck arrived at the station and the men and children were ordered off and shoved into a room with a load of other people. All of them looked starved and scared. They looked at the new arrivals and then carried on with what they were doing, which was sitting there, huddled together, waiting for the Germans to come back.  
  
"Alex, you alright, I couldn't help you on the truck" said Ardeth looking at the mans head.  
  
"Yeah, I'll be fine, just hurts a bit. Where are we and what is going to happen to us?" he asked.  
  
"I don't know" replied his friend "But wherever it is, it is not going to be pleasant"   
  
He sat down and Rudi sat beside him while Alex gathered the children together and got them to sit with some of the other people in the room including some women who had taken them to heart. Some of which had obviously lost their own children somewhere along the line.  
  
"I don't think we are going anywhere that carry out experiments Ardeth, I know that is what is worrying you" said Rudi.  
  
"Oh I am not worried for myself, but for Alex and the children. I am a warrior, I used to hardships and lack of food but he isn't and I have to make sure he gets back to his parents even if I don't"  
  
It was cold in the room but not as cold as outside where they had to queue up for a sloppy soup and mouldy bread to eat later that day. It was disgusting and Alex was shocked at the way the other people devoured it as though it was the only thing they would get to eat.  
  
"Why are they eating it, it is all mouldy and makes me feel sick" he said.  
  
"You had better get used to it" said Rudi "It is all you will get for a long time. They are eating it because it is what they have been used to for many weeks even months"  
  
"I had no idea it was this bad" the man replied "What the hell are we going to do?"  
  
Nobody answered him as they didn't know but had a very good idea but didn't want to scare him any more than was necessary. He was still hungry and hadn't eaten any of the soup and it was soon taken by someone else would didn't care what it tasted like.  
They fell asleep eventually but it wasn't a settled sleep, they either woke up themselves because of hunger or because someone else woke up and that disturbed them. This went on for about three days and then they were all ushered out of the room and made to line up next to a long cattle train.   
Where the people had come from they didn't know but there seemed to be hundreds of them, men, women and children. Old and young, well and sick, all of them waiting beside the open trucks. The Germans were shouting at them to keep together and when there was no more to line up, they were ordered onto the trucks.  
Ardeth and the others made sure that they stayed together but some of the children were taken with the women, who it was assumed were their mothers and put into a different truck. There was nothing they could do and hoped that they would find some comfort together.  
They were pushed to the back of the truck and about a hundred people were put in after them. There was no way that they could sit down and had to stand, with people wedged against them until the doors were closed and then they had a little bit of space but only enough to turn round if they were lucky.  
The train was made up of about sixty covered wagons and the hundreds of people were crammed inside each wagon. The doors were bolted and the only air was through gaps that had a grating of barbed wire. Several SS men lay on the roof, just in case anyone tried to escape.   
  
"They believe in getting as many people in these things" said Ardeth.  
  
The train moved off and started its journey, their destination, they didn't know but it was going to be a long one. After a few hours, although it was cold outside, inside the wagons, it was very hot and getting hotter, from people body heat. Some of the people had fainted and had been trampled under the others as there was no way to get them up again. Alex looked at Rudi, he was standing shoulder to shoulder with him and he was pale and sweating.  
  
"Rudi, you alright?" he asked.  
  
But before the man could answer, he started to slide down the wall of the truck, as he passed out in the heat. Luckily Ardeth managed to grasp his waist with his arm and between him and Alex held him up. If he went to the floor, he would die.  
  
"Rudi, wake up, come on" said Alex slapping his face "You have to wake up"  
  
His eyes opened and he tried to stay awake but it was too hot in there and he felt himself slipping into unconsciousness again. This time Alex had managed to get the other side of him and between the two men, held him and sort of wedged him against the wall of the truck to stop him from falling to the floor.  
Just where Alex was standing was a gap in the window and he could see snow on the little ledge. Telling Ardeth to hold Rudi, he managed to slip his hand through the small gap and grasp a handful of the snow. Bringing it back in without cutting himself on the barbed wire, he rubbed into the mans face and this worked quite well. He woke up after the second handful of snow and with their help, managed to stay awake for the rest of the journey.   
As the train went through the countryside, they could see through the gaps and watch villages, churches and fields pass by as they journeyed on.  
Then they heard the whistle blow and the train started to slow down, they must be almost at their destination. It was late afternoon and they could see great big spotlights, shining through the dusk.  
  
"Looks like we are here, wherever here is" said Alex.  
  
"Yes, we have to try and stay together" replied Ardeth "That way we could survive longer"  
  
Alex looked at him and saw fear in his eyes, he must have had the same fear in his own because Ardeth squeezed his arm as if to say, try not to worry.  
  
"Let's hope that Father Shandor got away and has found out where we are" said Alex.  
  
"If we are where I think we are, there is no chance of anyone rescuing us, we will have to rely on our own instincts and pray that we get it right" said Rudi.  
  
They heard a lot of shouting and suddenly the doors opened, Germans stood there with rifles and some with dogs. The people in the wagon were so close to the doors that as they opened they fell out.   
  
"EVERYBODY OUT" shouted the German soldier "NOW, MOVE"  
  
The people crowded out onto the platform, or what acted as a platform, Ardeth and his friends stuck close together as they left the wagon. They were stiff from standing for so long and very hungry and thirsty. Some of the people in the wagon were dead and they had to step over them.  
They soldiers pointed their rifles and motioned them to march towards the big gates of the camp. As they got near to it, there was a man standing there looking at each of the prisoners and either pointed to the right or the left. He looked at the three men and pointed to the right and they went through the gate which said over it "Albeit Macht Frei" which meant work means freedom.  
Walking up the little pathway that led between wooden huts, they were taken to a hut at the end of the row and told to strip. There were about forty men in the hut and when they were all naked, the German officer came to look at them. When he saw the tattoos on Ardeth and the couple on Alex, he pulled them out of the line. He did the same to three others further down and they were told to shower first and put on the prison uniforms.  
Rudi was left in the line and looked at the others as they went into the shower room. He wondered if that was real or a gas chamber, but he could see in when they opened the door and it was too small. When they had finished the other men were pushed through, in groups of six.  
Ardeth and the other four men were given the clothes to put on and given a special cap that made it known that they were special prisoners.  
  
"You will be taken to the commandant in due course. He will have special duties for you until it is decided whether you live or die with the others" said the officer.  
  
He summoned the guard and told him to take them to a cell on their own at the end of the camp, near what they called Canada. They were given watery soup, very much like what they had before and water. The cell was only for two people and now there were five in there, which didn't leave much room.  
They also learnt quickly not to speak until they were on their own. They had seen what happened to those who did. Ardeth and the others knew that they could be in this cell for a while before they were seen.  
The walls were smooth and frozen, covered in frost where they had to sleep. It was dark now and they knew that they wouldn't be seen till the next day. A terrible cold seemed to go right into the bone and it kept them awake. During the night, the man who was leaning against him shifted his weight and slid down the wall. There was nothing they could do to help him there was no room. Reaching down, Ardeth touched his face and realized that he was dead.  
  
"We have found five men with tattoos Sir, one has a lot of them, looks like they are tribal from some African country. Do you wish to see them?" asked the officer.  
  
"No, not at the moment, I will see them in the morning. I have some paperwork to attend to. Have they been given the priority uniforms?" asked the commandant.  
  
"Yes Sir"  
  
"Very well, send them to me at 7am. I will have them registered and given a number and then they can go to work. Make sure the hut nearest Canada is ready for them. They can join the others already there"  
  
The officer left and went to get his dinner. Then he would have to supervise the gassing of the other prisoners that didn't pass for work. It would be an all-night task again as there was supposed to be another transport the next morning.  
Auschwitz-Birkenhau was one of the biggest death camps in Poland and they had four crematoria to accommodate all the Jews that were going to be killed. There were 11,111,1V and V at Birkenhau, 11 and 111 had rooms and gas chambers underground, they could gas 3000 at the same time.  
1V and V were different – they were on one level and had three gas chambers that could gas 2000 at the same time. Elevators hoisted the bodies to the crematoria where the men moved them to the ovens, 11 and 111 had 15 ovens and 1V and V had 8.  
On the walls of the undressing rooms were hooks with numbers and benches. Posters on the walls stated 'It's good to be clean' 'Lice can kill' 'To the disinfection area' all were a ploy to get the people in there calmly, because on the left were the massive doors that led to the gas chambers.  
Zyclon-B was used, through the roof of 11 and 111, and the windows of 1V and V. The people thought they were going for a shower and were dead in fifteen minutes.  
As the gas rose, the people were crushed as they struggled when the lights were turned out and they all got crushed. When the doors were opened, there were many injuries and a lot of blood where skulls and bones were crushed and broken.  
Out of the train load of prisoners that Ardeth and the others had traveled with, at least 80% were now dead. How long it would be before the three friends were dead too, no-one knew, this would be entirely up to the commandant when he saw them the next day. 


	6. Chapter Six

Chapter Six  
  
Life in Auschwitz wasn't very nice and Ardeth was going to find out just how bad. Every thing in the camp was made to break the prisoners, in mind and body. They were starved, beaten and some died of disease and if that did not kill them then 15 hours work a day would. By that time they would be glad to go to the gas chambers.  
The huts were called blocks and housed about 2000 with four or five to a bunk, laying on filthy straw with no blankets to speak of. At 4am they had roll call and if one was missing, they were made to stand there for three – twenty-four hours. Many passed out from lack of food or illness. The food was a watery saltless soup made of rotten vegetables and bad meat, a few ounces of dry bread and tea.   
The next day Ardeth and the others were taken to the commandant so he could decide what he was going to do with them. He was quite surprised and pleased when he saw the men and he spent quite a while walking round them and inspecting them, making notes. Then he went and sat at his desk while they stood there wondering what their fate was going to be.  
  
"Right I have decided that you will live for a while at least" he said "I have some special jobs for you. You will have heard that I have plans for anyone that has tattoos. You will die eventually but I have not decided when and then your skin will be used for decoration so that people for many generations will admire the work. That sounds good doesn't it?"  
  
The men swallowed hard and nodded but were poked in the back by the guard with his rifle.  
  
"You will answer the commandant, do you understand?" he shouted.  
  
"Yes sir" they all said.  
  
"Guard, you will take them to have an additional tattoo added but tell the man that on this man, to put it somewhere that will not mar the ones he already has. Also take them to have their hair cut and then I will take them to their assigned jobs myself"  
  
"Yes Heir Commandant" said the guard saluting.  
  
The men were taken into a room where they were each tattooed with a number. With the exception of Ardeth, the numbers were put on their left arms but on him, they found a place on his wrist that would be far enough away from the other tattoos. Then they were taken to have their hair cut very short. Alex had never seen Ardeth with short hair and he looked very different.  
The commandant came out and marched them across the courtyard to a place called Canada, the heart of Auschwitz if you like where lots of other prisoners sorted and listed all clothing, valuables and food from those who had arrived. There was an oblong yard with a tower at each corner with barbed wire all round it. Huge storerooms with a sort of office at one end dominated the area.   
In them were huge mountains of blankets, cases and bags, thousands of them and no-one asked where the owners were, it wasn't allowed. On one side were prams and another of pots and pans. Then Alex nudged Ardeth as he spotted a pile that turned his stomach.   
It was hair, human hair, tons of it which they were using for mattresses and linings of submarines. For each kilo the commandant would receive half a German mark.  
They were each assigned a table and it was Ardeth and Alex's job to sort out the gold teeth and diamonds from the jewellery that had been taken from the people. A man who wore a pink star showed them what they had to do.  
  
"What does the stars mean?" asked Alex.  
  
"They are for different races and groups of people. The yellow star is for the Jews, I am homosexual so I wear the pink star, you will learn what they are soon" the man whispered.  
  
Ardeth looked at him and the man put his hand on his shoulder and assured him that he had no worries while in there, they were all too ill and weak to be a threat to anyone. Ardeth smiled weakly and the man showed them what they had to do.  
He glanced over at Alex and saw tears running down his face but before he could say anything the man, whose name was Karl, had bent over him pretending to show him something and whispered to him.  
  
"Don't let the guards see you cry, they will take you from here and beat you and worse. If you have to cry, do it at night when you are in your bunk, it is safer my friend"  
  
Alex wiped his eyes quickly and carried on with what he was trying to do, he prayed for the first time in ages that somehow they would get out of this terrible place but he feared that this was the end for al of them. His thoughts turned to his parents and he wondered what they were doing and was thankful that they didn't know where he was.  
  
Father Shandor and Samuel had made it into Poland and had enlisted the help of the resistance there. They were heading for a place called Nysa where they could then find out if it was possible to get Ardeth and the others out.  
  
"You realize that they could be dead already" said Ezra "We could be wasting our time"  
  
"If you believe that then why are you helping us" shouted Samuel "None of this is a waste of time to us, they are our friends and it is because of us that they are there in the first place"  
  
"Okay, okay, but we need to find out definitely if they are there. We have people who can get that information out for us. They are guards who have helped us before. But they have to be careful, they can be murdered just as easily as anyone else if they are found out"  
  
The men were in a cellar underneath an old café that was used by the Germans when they were off duty so they had to be very careful that no-one saw them go in or out. Most things were done at night to arouse the least suspicion.  
Poland was a very dangerous place, even more so than the other parts of the new Germany and it would take them a long time to get to Auchwitz and the longer Ardeth and the others were there, the more chance they had of being killed.  
  
"What are you going to do when and if, we get them out of there, which I don't think we will" said Karl.  
  
"We take them to Poland and then back to Egypt" replied Samuel.  
  
"Look the longer they are in that place the worse they are going to be. We rescued some men from the camp at Treblinka a few months ago, out of the ten that we got out only two have survived. They were so ill and had been beaten so many times that their will to live had gone and there was nothing we could do to help them"  
  
"Then we had better pray that we get there in time" said Father Shandor.  
  
For two months Ardeth and Alex had worked in Canada sorting the gold and although it was a bad job in itself, the long hours and lack of food were taking there toil as was the cold. It was now the end of January and winter was at it's height. It was freezing most of the time and even more so at night. They didn't have blankets to keep them warm and only had the body heat of the person that they shared the bunk with. Luckily Ardeth had managed to persuade someone to let Alex stay with him and that way at least they got some comfort from each other.  
The commandant was pleased with their work and they did get a few more privileges that the others did not get albeit not much. When most of the others were ill they had to continue to work regardless but there were instructions that Ardeth and the other five men were to be treated in the so called hospital if they were ill.   
Anyway he was keeping his investments in good condition as he had put it, he wanted no blemishes or anything to spoil the tattoos of these men. Typhoid and other diseases would mark the skin if left untreated and he could not risk that. This worked out well one day while the commandant was inspecting Canada.  
Ardeth had been feeling ill for a few days and Alex had pleaded with him to go and see the commandant. But he had refused. The younger man wasn't sure what it was, but he had been shivering at night and it wasn't just from the cold. He felt hot and he wasn't eating even the garbage that they were being given.  
As the commandant was talking to one of the guards, Ardeth had picked up the box of gold that he had sorted and was taking it to the guard at the end of the room for him to replace it with more to be done. Just as he took the second box, he felt the world tip and he hit the floor, the teeth spilling everywhere. The commandant heard the commotion and ran over to see what was going on.  
  
"Get back to your work" he shouted and then he saw who it was. "Get him to the hospital room, now. The rest of you work"  
  
Alex was about to jump up and run to Ardeth when Karl stopped him.  
  
"Leave it, he will be seen too, if you go over there, they will shoot you and ask questions later"  
  
The man sat back down, knowing Karl was right, he had seen it happen on several occasions. He would find out about Ardeth later, he had no choice. The guards took Ardeth to the hospital and he was examined by the doctor there just as the commandant came in.  
  
"What is wrong with him, don't damage that skin whatever you do"  
  
"He has a high fever but it is not typhoid. Do I send him back to work?"  
  
"No, he will stay here for twenty-four hours and then we shall see. Bring me a drawing pad, I want to make some sketches while he is here"  
  
The man also saw how thin he had become and it was affecting the tattoos, so he sent for some food and was going to make sure he was fed at least for a day.   
Ardeth actually stayed there for nearer forty-eight hours when he was told to go back to work. He was still feeling ill but not as bad as before. While he got dressed, he noticed the drawing pad on the table and he looked at it quickly before the man came back in but not quick enough.  
  
"They are good are they not" said the man walking in the door and seeing Ardeth looking at his work.  
  
"Yes Sir, they are…but why did you bring me here, why didn't you let me die"  
  
"Is that what you want…I don't think so…you are not like the others, you were a warrior in your country, yes. If that is true they don't give up that easily. You will work until I am ready for you, if that means another week or month or even six months, you will work the same as the rest of them. Guard take him back to work and make sure he has extra rations for the next three days, I don't want him dead yet"  
  
Alex was pleased to see him, he had been able to find out nothing about how he was or even if he was still alive or not. He had been worried that he was there on his own, very selfish but that was how the place was making him.  
  
"Thank God, you are still alive" he said.  
  
"Just yes, I feel lousy but better then the other day. The commandant has been making drawings of my tattoos, with ideas underneath of what he wants to use them for"  
  
"God, he is sick and he left them there so you could see them?"  
  
"Be quiet, you will get us all in trouble" said another man who had only been there a few days "I don't want to die even if you do"  
  
Karl spoke to him and brought some jewelry for Ardeth to sort through, he had been told of the extra rations and that Ardeth was to have them in the office at the end of the room.  
  
"Don't let any of the others know that you are having these or your life will not be worth living" said Karl "By the way, I heard this morning that Rudi is dead, he was gassed three days ago, I am sorry"  
  
The men said nothing until they were in their bunks that night and then they spoke of Rudi and this really scared Alex, someone he knew well was dead and it brought home the reality of the whole situation that they were in. All Ardeth could do was try and comfort the young man and made a solemn vow that somehow they were going to get out of that place. He didn't know how if even if it was possible but they couldn't just sit there and do nothing.  
It was going to be hard because he felt that he wouldn't be able to survive till the next day, he was so exhausted and felt so ill and hungry and wished he could just throw himself at the electric fence that so many others had done since he had been there. But he knew he couldn't, he was the only one that could take care of Alex. He owed that much to Rick and Evy, he had agreed to let Alex come with him. He should have known better after what happened last time.  
They fell into a restless sleep, woken every so often by someone either crying or coughing but for the moment they had each other, it would be so much worse if either of them were there alone. Ardeth was determined to speak to Karl the next day about the possibility of escape. 


	7. Chapter Seven

This one is a little bit gruesome in places so be warned.  
  
Chapter Seven  
It had been three months now since they had arrived at Auchwitz and life was worse than they could ever have imagined. What Ardeth had gone through before was quite mild to what they had to endure here.  
They had heard that all the children that had arrived with them were dead as well as their friend Rudi. Alex seemed to be coping quite well with what was happening to him although he didn't say very much. Karl had voiced his fears about Ardeth one day and Alex told him what had happened all those months ago when he was in Germany before.  
  
"Well we will have to help him, make sure he is not on his own as much as we can. I have seen it before, he will try and mask his own fears in front of you and probably me as well. If he doesn't talk about things he will end up worse than before"  
  
"But we are going to die anyway" replied Alex "He was talking about trying to get out of here a couple of weeks ago, just after that illness he had but then he said nothing more about it"  
  
Karl passed some more things to Alex to sort out, Ardeth was taking some stuff to one of the guards.  
  
"He spoke to me too, I told him that there was no chance of getting out of here. No-one had ever escaped from here and those that had tried were shot"  
  
Ardeth came back and they pretended to speak about the gold they were sorting out until a guard heard them and told them to shut up. He knew they had been talking about him but he kept quiet. He was becoming more and more scared of what was going on and more worried about Alex. He didn't care about himself but if there was any way of getting him out of there he would.  
It was Sunday morning and someone shouted that fifty men were needed at the unloading bay. The guards picked a load of the men from Canada, including Ardeth, Alex and Karl and they were marched to the bay.  
  
"Wonder why they want us over here?" asked Alex.  
  
"There is another transport coming in and they need someone to take off the people" replied Karl.  
  
The guards marched up and down with their rifles ready and hit anyone who they saw was talking. The three friends shutup. They waited for the train to arrive and when it did, they were move to the doors. When they were opened, a lot of the people fell out, suffocated with swollen faces.  
The injured and the children had been trampled to death by the others in the wagons as they tried to get some air. Even in this very cold winter, the temperature inside the wagons must have been over 30 degrees.  
Several of the men were sick and beaten for the trouble. Ardeth and Alex felt the same but tried to control it as best they could. They had to load all the bodies, dead and injured onto trucks and soon as one train was emptied, the next one came in.  
This went on for two days by which time, Ardeth and the others were dead on their feet and finally were marched to their huts at 1am, where they collapsed on the bunks, knowing that they would be woken again at 5am. They were weak too from lack of food, even more so the last two days as they had only been given coffee and one bowl of watery soup. Alex had nearly passed out twice and had to be held up by Karl at one stage in case one of the guards saw him.  
One of the trains had about two hundred children on it, each with a loaf of bread under their arms. As they were marched off the train, they had to put the bread in a basket and then they were taken to the gas chambers. This was the final thing to get to Ardeth and he seemed to end up crying at this terrible thing that was being done to the children, some as young as two years old.  
  
"Come on Ardeth, for Gods sake don't let them see you like this, you will end up in the gas chamber with the others" said Karl later that night.  
  
"Just leave me alone" whispered Ardeth turning his back from them "If I had a gun I would kill them all"  
  
"We all feel like that my friend" replied Karl "But you have to work through this. Shut off, somehow, that is the only way you will survive this place"  
  
Ardeth knew the man was right but how could he, those childrens faces would haunt him for the rest of his life. But they weren't the worse things he would see, not by a long way. The next day they were back on the trains, and after the bodies were loaded they had to get the others into line who didn't want to leave the wagons.  
One girl with long red hair, was sitting in the corner of one of the wagons, rocking too and fro, obviously whatever had happened to her, had turned her mind. Ardeth tried to coax her out.  
  
"Come on, everything will be fine but you have to leave here" he said quietly.  
  
Looking at her, all he saw was blankness on her face, she seemed to look straight through him, as though he wasn't even there. There was no response at all. Suddenly a guard shouted to him to get her on a blanket if she wouldn't get out and carry her.  
As they rolled her onto the blanket and ran with her, they stumbled and fell as she was quite heavy and they were getting weaker. The SS slashed across Ardeths and Alexs shoulders and the blanket slipped from their numb fingers. He shouted to them to drag her and as they did, she bumped over the frozen ground and she eventually stopped crying and moving.  
They put her in the lorry and went back to get someone else. This went on until all were in the lorries and they stood and watched them drive off, knowing that they would all be dead in the next half hour.   
It was getting harder to work but easier to cope with what was going on, there were no more tears to cry. Their bodies worked but their minds and feelings were shutting down. They were becoming oblivious to the pain and suffering.  
About two weeks later, the trains stopped for a while and the commandant was pleased because the bodies were piling up and they would have to work even harder to clear them before the next ones came in.  
The crematoria had worked at full strength the last few days and it was still struggling. The ones burned had been without food and water for days, weeks and some had been dead in the wagons and the rest didn't take long to gas. All that remained was a pile of rags and when Ardeth glanced up at the chimney, he saw the lightening rods at the corners were all twisted and bent because of the heat generated from the ovens.  
The only good thing about being chosen to work in the ovens was that they could get warm for a while. Their bodies were so cold that any feeling had long since gone altogether.  
  
"I am so cold" said Alex "I can't keep going"  
  
He slid down the wall of the hut but was pulled up by Karl who tried to make him walk back to the crematoria.  
  
"You have to, once we are in here, you will warm up, that is the one advantage of working here, come on"  
  
The only problem they had was that the bodies from the chambers had to be carried on the mens backs to the ovens and that was hard work. If they fell, they were beaten till they got up again, if after that they didn't get up, they were shot and followed the others into the ovens.  
One of the bodies that Ardeth was carrying was really heavy and he had to let him fall as he sagged to the ground in exhaustion. Suddenly a voice spoke to him and turning round he saw that it was the man he had been carrying. He got up to help him but felt whip lashes on his back as the SS officer beat him and then pulling his gun, shot the man.   
  
"Get up and take him to the ovens. If you don't, you will be shot too, MOVE"  
  
Ardeth struggled to his feet and staggered back inside and helped the other men with the bodies. He was losing his fight and really wished that he was dead. He had no wish to go on and even Alex and Karl could not get through to him.  
They were never allowed to stay at the same job for more than a few days at a time and they were soon moved to another place. This time it was the gas chambers themselves, where they had to take out the bodies after they had been gassed.  
Standing by they watched the people go into the room, naked and they all assumed they were going to be showered and then put to work. Alex would have liked to have told them exactly what was going to happen to them but he dare not.  
The doors were closed and bolted and then the lights turned out. That was when they heard the screaming, until that moment they had not been privy to that and it sent a chill down their spines. The Zyklon-B had been put in the vents and as it vaporized the people banged on the doors to try and get away.  
Soon the noise stopped and after about fifteen minutes the doors were opened and Ardeth and the others had to pull out the bodies. Three of the men passed out at the sight including Alex and they were kicked into the corner by the guards. If by the time the people had been taken out they were not up and working again, they would be joining them.  
Somehow Karl managed to get Alex up and out of there before the guards came back and they hid him behind the pillar next to one of the ovens for a while till he felt better, risking his own life as well.  
  
"Come on Alex, you have to help, the guards will be back in a minute and they walk behind there" said Ardeth.  
  
"I'm…coming" said Alex summoning the energy somehow to get up just as the guards came back in.   
  
Seeing that they were all working they went out to have a crafty cigarette. One of the other men came over and gave Alex some water, very dirty water but something to drink all the same. He thanked them.  
On the second day, one of the men found a bundle and saw that it was a baby, still alive. The guard took the bundle from the man and saw the baby waving its arms. Before anyone could do anything, he had put it on the floor and crushed it's neck with his foot.  
This was too much for Ardeth, he hit the guard and then ran outside and was violently sick. The guard ran after him and hit him with the rifle butt and he doubled up on the ground while the man continued to kick him.  
When he was sure that Ardeth was at least unconscious he went back inside and called the others guard. Between them they dragged the man to the fence at the back of the crematoria and tied him by his hands to a post which was about seven foot off the ground. Ardeth hung there, still out cold and was left there as a reminder to the others.  
When he came round, what he thought was a few hours later, his arms felt as though they were being pulled out of their sockets and he realized that he was hanging by them. It was dark and the pain he felt every time he moved, was excruciating. He had no feeling in any of his limbs at all and he could feel himself either passing out or dying, he didn't know which.  
Then vaguely he felt himself being lifted down and carried. When he opened his eyes he saw that he was in the barracks and Alex was trying to give him some water.  
  
"Take it easy Ardeth" he said "You have been up there for two days. The commandant made us take you down. He said you are to stay here tomorrow"  
  
"Leave me, let me die" gasped Ardeth weakly.  
  
"No way, we have come this far. There are rumours that the war will be over soon, one of the guards, the nice one in Canada told Karl. They reckon by the end of the year it will all be over" said Alex.  
  
"I can't carry on for another day, let alone a few months" he replied "I've had it, all those people dead and I have helped to do it"  
  
Alex held the man in his arms and he realized that Ardeth was losing a lot of weight, his face was drawn and grey with dark circles under his eyes. But then he must have looked the same. The only thing that reminded him of the warrior he knew was the tattoos. This place was slowly killing them all, maybe Ardeth was right, they would have been better being gassed when they arrived.  
  
"We have each other, we have to try and survive this, listen to me"  
  
He laid there and talked to Ardeth, reminding him of their home, his parents and all the things that had done together and all the things that he wanted to do when this was all over. Ardeth tried to remember but his mind wouldn't let him get past that baby or the others that had died. He realized that he wasn't as strong as Alex was. He didn't know why, maybe the experience from before had something to do with it but he just wanted to go to sleep and never wake up again. 


	8. chapter Eight

Chapter Eight  
  
They had managed to survive if you could call it that for six months, which was longer than most did. One day a Kapo came into the barracks and ordered that twenty five men were to be taken to Birkenhau, a sort of annex to Auschwitz.   
Ardeth didn't know why but it meant a while longer before they were killed. He was still trying to keep Alex as close to him as he could, there had only been a couple of occasions where he had not been able to do that.   
He was very proud of Alex, he had stood up to the ordeal surprisingly well, which was more than he was, although he kept how he really felt from Alex quite well. Karl had managed to stay with them as well, they had become very good friends and looked out for each other, which you had to do in that place.  
  
"I wonder why they want us to come here?" asked Alex as they were taken on a truck.  
  
"I have no idea" replied Karl "But you can guarantee that it won't be any better than this place"  
  
He was right, this place was filthy, ten times worse than the main camp. Corpses were piled up and barracks, built for horses housed about 800 people in three tier bunks. Each slept about six people and sometimes eight. The only warmth was the bodies of the other people. Here there wasn't even any straw or rags for blankets.  
Many of the prisoners had diarrhea and lice and there was no water or lighting. Because of the fear of typhoid the guards made sure the places were deloused every so often, but it didn't cure the problem.  
All three friends were ill, mostly from lack of food and hard work, none of them were used to the sort of hard work that Auschwitz demanded. They were dirty and very thin, you wouldn't even have recognized them if it hadn't been for Ardeths tattoos.  
The daily routine started before daybreak after only about an hours sleep. None of them could sleep properly, crying or groaning kept them awake from those that were near to dying. They had to run with the others into the cold and line up. Any bodies were thrown into a pile.  
Those that did could work, did and those that were too ill stayed in the barracks. Sometimes they were made to stand for hours in the cold when the count was wrong.  
  
"I can't put up with this much longer" said Ardeth one morning "If they don't let us go back inside I am going to pass out"  
  
"Karl, put your arm round his waist. Ardeth you can't pass out, none of us can and believe me I have been fighting that for an hour. If we do, we are dead you know that. Come on fight it for a little longer please"  
  
It was about half hour later that they were allowed back in and coffee was served, at least that is what they called it. They put Ardeth on the bunk and hoped that no-one would come and want them for a while. They had found out that there was a quarry and a marsh about four miles from the camp and they were going to go and work there.  
  
"I don't think he is going to survive much more of this" said Alex "If it hadn't been for him getting tortured all those months ago, he might have been stronger to handle this. Even you seem to being coping"  
  
"I have spent my life surviving in the country, I come…came from a very poor family and we had to work sixteen hours a day, in all weathers with hardly any clothes. This is no different in many ways except for the deaths. All we can do is watch him and try and fool the goons that he is working as hard as the rest"  
  
The next day they were lined up and marched to the marshland and forced to stand in freezing mud, digging out stones and sand. They were forced to get up at 3am, given some dirty tea and marched to the marsh at 5am. There they were forced to work until 7pm in the evening where they were given hot water with bits of beetroot and nettles in it and a bit of bread.  
  
"I can't feel my feet or hands" said Alex "I am so cold"  
  
His lips were a bluish colour and they were afraid he was freezing to death. Karl asked to have a coat for him at one point and the guard just laughed.  
  
"Klaus, come here. This man wishes a coat for his friend. What would you say to him"  
  
The man came over and walked round Karl and laughed out loud. Then he took out his pistol and held it at Karls head.  
  
"I say if you don't get back to work, you are dead"  
  
Then he pushed him so that he fell into the water and had to endure the rest of the day, soaken wet from head to foot. By the time he got back to the barracks he was a shivering block of ice and several of the prisoners there were convinced that he would die in the night. He didn't but came down with a cold and was getting more ill with each day that passed.  
One day, when they were working down at the marsh, a man near to them was only picking up smaller stones until the SS noticed and made him pick up the larger ones.  
  
"I can't" he said "I have a hernia"  
  
"What did he say?" said the other officer.  
  
The man told him and the officer told him to come over to him. As the prisoner did, he swung his boot back and kicked the man hard. The noise brought every head turning in the area. Alex wanted to kill him, but Ardeth held him back.  
  
"No you will die too, ignore it as best you can, for all our sakes"  
  
The mans body was moved and they had to resume their hard work, which got harder as it had started to snow again. They had been lucky in the fact that it had been clear for over a week but now it was back with vengeance.  
  
Father Shandor and Samuel were being cared for by a local farmer about three miles from the camp. They had to stay in the barn just in case anyone came to the house. But they were warm and fed while two of the resistance tried to find out what they could about Ardeth and Alex, if anything.  
  
"Do you think they are alive after all this time?" asked the farmer one night.  
  
"I hope so but to be honest, I have my doubts" replied Samuel "The closer we get to this place the more horrific the stories and…it has been seven months now. But we have to be sure"  
  
"The soldiers were around last night, you will have to move into the hay loft" he said "they could be back, I will bring you more food in the morning"  
  
"Thank you for all your help and we will be gone in the next couple of days I assure you"  
  
The next day, the two men who had gone to find out information were back with good news. They had found Ardeth.  
  
"Oh thank God, thank God" said Father Shandor "Where, where is he, is he okay?"  
  
"He is at Birkenhau, so is Alex. We had to pay the guard a good deal of money for this information. But they are not okay"  
  
He told them what had happened to them and where they were now.  
  
"Can we get them out of there?" asked Father Shandor.  
  
"Well, we have a better chance where they are now than when they were in the main camp at Auschwitz. But it is still going to be dangerous."  
  
He took out a map and showed them where they were in relationship to where they were at the moment.  
  
"There are about thirty prisoners and he says, eight guards"  
  
"So why haven't they overpowered them and escaped?" asked the father.  
  
"Because my friend they are too ill and weak to do that. Most of them, if not all of them have lost the will to live, they wouldn't care if they died where they were. Apparently they work till seven in the evening. I suggest we go there about 6.30pm and try and rescue them as they are being loaded onto the truck to go back to the camp"  
  
"Try and rescue them, what do you mean?"  
  
The man walked to the door of the barn and looked out at the snow what was falling hard, luckily covering any footprints. He turned to the men behind him.  
  
"It is going to be dangerous. The snow is not only our friend but also our enemy. It can hide footprints but we will stick out like sore thumbs against the white. We have to go there while it is getting dark. There is only four of us and that means we have to overpower eight guards without using rifles. The noise would echo round the area. The camp would have reinforcements out here within minutes of the first shots being fired"  
  
Five of you, I will help" said a voice behind them.  
  
It was the farmer but Samuel shook his head.  
  
"No this is not your fight, you have helped us enough"  
  
"This is my fight Samuel, I have watched for a long time, the wagons going into the camp, knowing what was going on and wishing there was something I could do. Now I have that chance. If I can help save one life, it will be worth the risk"  
  
"If you are sure Moses, then I am pleased to have you with us. We leave tomorrow afternoon"  
  
Their plan was as such. They would wait till the men were being put on the truck, kill the guards and then drive the truck across the border into Czechoslovakia which is only about fifty miles. With luck on their side, they could do it in a couple of hours.  
  
"Do we take all the prisoners?" asked the Father.  
  
"We have to, we can't leave any of them behind, that wouldn't be fair. Once we are over the border, some of our people will take them to a church there, and they will be taken care of. That leaves us to get Ardeth and Alex to Romaina and the safety of Father Shandors Monastery"  
  
"It all sounds so simple. But then it did before but look what happened, all those children. They would have died as soon as they got there"  
  
He was so upset and guilty over what had happened to the children, there was no way they had survived the camp. All he could do was safe these men, in particular Ardeth and Alex. He prayed to God that there was something worth saving. Many didn't survive even if they did get away and Ardeth had been through similar only a year or so ago.  
What Father Shandor didn't know what just what the two friends had been through and that it would take a miracle if they survived much longer.   
The next day they made their way to the quarry, or at least about half a mile from there. Making themselves almost invisible against the trees that circled the place, they watched and waited.  
  
"Do you see Ardeth and Alex?" asked Samuel.  
  
"No but dressed as they are it is difficult to see. Anyway he has long hair" replied Father Shandor.  
  
"He won't have had long hair since he was brought here, it is shaved off as soon as they arrive and kept shaved as long as they live" said the farmer.  
  
Father Shandor looked shocked at this and turned back into the trees, he hadn't known that and he was upset. Samuel went over to him.  
  
"There are a lot of things about these people and the horrific things they do that is hard to understand. But one day they will get their comeuppance, they will be answerable to everything they have done"  
  
"But that won't help the ones who have died" replied Father Shandor "Nor will it help my two friends down there, who wouldn't be there if it wasn't for me. If I had done the job myself and left them in Egypt, they would be safe and would never have had to go through this…this horror. I am as guilty as the Germans"  
  
"You can't say that. Okay maybe you shouldn't have asked Ardeth back here, especially after what happened last time, but after tonight, he will be safe too. Don't forget all the other people that would be dead now if it wasn't for you, your monks and the resistance."  
  
Father Shandor nodded and walked back to where they were getting ready to ambush the guards. He knew what Samuel said was true but that didn't help how he felt and he knew that this was the last time he was getting anyone else involved. If it couldn't be done by him, then it wouldn't get done. He was finished with all of it now.  
They watched the guards get the men and line them up at the back of the truck and make them get on board. Two were in the cab, two would be on the truck with the men and the other four would walk beside the truck on either side, all the way back to the camp.  
It didn't take long for the friends to kill the four that were to walk by the truck, that left the two in the back and the two in the cab. Father Shandor and the farmer, dealt with the two in the cab while the other two were killed by Samuel. Not a sound was heard except a gasp as the men were taken. No shots were fired and no-one knew what was happening until it was too late.   
The prisoners stayed in the truck and looked terrified when the guards were killed but Samuel and Father Shandor jumped up and told them not to worry.  
  
"You are safe now, you are leaving this place. Where is Ardeth and Alex?" he asked.  
  
No-one had the strength to answer or didn't know the names. He looked at all the men in a faint torchlight and right at the back he found them. But if he had been shocked before then he was even more shocked now when he saw them.  
  
"Ardeth…Alex…is that you?" he asked.  
  
"Father" said Alex "Oh my God, it really is you, Ardeth, it's Father Shandor"  
  
"Shandor…you found us" replied Ardeth in a whisper.  
  
"Samuel, they are here" he called out "I have found them"  
  
Samuel climbed onto the truck and saw the two friends. But even he wasn't prepared for the state of them and he wondered if they would even survive the journey across the border, let alone Romania. All the men were the same. In fact one was already dead, must have died as soon as he got onto the truck from lack of food and exhaustion. This was not over yet, not by a long way, this was only the beginning. 


	9. Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine  
  
When Father Shandor saw the two friends, he was visibly shocked, if it hadn't been for Ardeths tattoos he would never have recognized him. He was filthy, wearing clothes that were too big for him, all his hair was gone and he had lost so much weight.  
  
Taking his coat off, Samuel wrapped it round him and Alex who was in just the same state as were all the men, some of them worse. They drove a few miles and then stopped to bury the two men who were dead, then carried on to a little place called Koprivnice, where there was a little church, whose nuns had helped the resistance before.  
  
"Father are you okay?" he asked as they drove.  
  
They both sat in the cab of the truck just in case they came across any soldiers, while the other three men stayed in the back with the men they had rescued.  
  
"I don't know Samuel, you saw the state of them, God knows what has happened to them in that place. This is all my fault"  
  
"Look I told you before it is not your fault, no one made them come to Germany to help you, they are grown men, making their own decisions. All we can do now is get them back to Egypt, which is not going to be easy. Right the church is about a mile away, down this old dirt track. Churches here always used to be build well away from the town or village"  
  
The Mother superior came out when he heard the truck pulling up and greeted Samuel. Then signaling to someone inside the gates, they opened and the truck was driven in, the gates shut and locked behind them.  
  
"Welcome, we were told you would be here. How many men have you got?" she asked.  
  
"About ten not including our two friends. They will be coming with us. Can you accommodate us all for a couple of days, then we will be on our way. Ardeth and Alex need some medical attention before we go to Romania"  
  
"That is no problem, I will show where you can sleep and I will send Sister Agatha and sister Paula down to take a look at all of the men"  
  
"Don't you want us to…er…well they are men" said Samuel.  
  
"We may be nuns but we have seen enough men in our lives to know what is what Samuel. Most of us are trained nurses, now let's get them inside"  
  
It took them about an hour to get all the men into the large dormitory, where they were each taken in turn to the showers and then with clean clothes, put to bed with hot broth and strong tea. Nothing too heavy at first, just little and often.  
  
Father Shandor and Samuel were told to get something to eat in the kitchen at the back of the church. These places were so compact even though they were stuck out in the middle of nowhere. The nuns that were not helping, sat at the table and talked to the Father.  
  
"This is the first time I have been here" said Father Shandor "How many of you are there?"  
  
"About twelve, it is safer for us all to be here together, like most churches around this area. Unfortunately in other areas, the churches have not been so lucky, we have lost a great many nuns to the Germans"  
  
As they sat there, Sister Agatha came in and they asked her how Ardeth and Alex was.  
  
"They are very ill I am afraid. Six months or more of very little food, dirty conditions. They have been beaten by the looks of the bruises, some are new and others are quite old. But the main problem is their mental state, we don't know what they have seen and been party too. We may never know. Alex, that is the younger one – he seems in better condition, if I can put it that way, than Ardeth does"  
  
"Well, Ardeth went through quite a bit about eighteen months ago, when he was here the first time" replied Father Shandor.  
  
She asked them to tell her what had happened, that way she could tell them how to treat him on the way back to Romania. All she did was shook her head as the tale was related and she didn't seem shocked at all and they told her so.  
  
"My friends, the war has been going on for nearly six years, we have seen things that make even what happened to Ardeth on both occasions very mild. It would take a lot nowadays to shock us, I am afraid. The Lord knows how anyone survives any of this, but they do and your friends will survive. It will take time and patience, maybe only a short time, maybe many years, but they will get over it, I assure you" she said placing a hand on his shoulder.  
  
Father Shandor went to see the two men and found that only Alex was asleep. They certainly looked a bit better now that they were clean but it made their condition look even worse. He could see in the light just how sick his friend was. He wasn't a big man in the first place and it looked like he had lost a good three stone, if not more. He had dark circles under his eyes and he was as pale as the sheets on the bed.  
  
"Ardeth, why aren't you asleep, you need rest"  
  
Ardeth looked at him and shook his head. The Father got a chair and sat next to him.  
  
"Where is Alex?" he asked softly.  
  
"He is here, look right next to you. Do you want a drink or anything?"  
  
"A drink, please. Are we really out of that place?"  
  
"Yes, you are safe as far as being away from there but I will not lie to you, we have to get back to Romania. It is going to take about three to five weeks to get back there. But Samuel has arranged help along the way so there should be no problems"  
  
"There was another man, a friend who helped us, is he here?"  
  
"What was his name?"  
  
"Karl, if it hadn't been for him we would have been dead a long time ago"  
  
"I will find out and bring you a drink, then you must get some sleep"  
  
He left Ardeth and went to speak to Sister Paula who was winding some bandages at the far end of the room. He asked her if there was a man called Karl there. She said there was but that he was very ill, even more so than the others. He had pneumonia and she didn't know if he would make it or not.  
  
Father Shandor poured two mugs of tea out and took them back to Ardeth. Helping him sit up a bit, Ardeth managed to drink most of it but because he had not eaten or drunk properly for so long, it didn't stay down very long. Laying him back down, the Father pulled the covers up round him as he was shivering and sat on the bed trying to get him to sleep. Sister Paula came over with a small glass containing a brownish liquid.  
  
"Ardeth, try and swallow this, it will help you sleep…that's it…good"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
"It is a mild sleeping draught in honey, it will be easy to swallow and hopefully he won't bring it back up. He will sleep in a few minutes and will stay asleep for at least eight hours"  
  
The man thanked her and she told him to get some rest himself as soon as Ardeth was asleep. She showed him where he could go and he lay down thinking about the events of the past day or so and what the next few days would bring. Not all the men would survive, that much was clear, he just hoped Ardeth and Alex were not in that number.  
  
By the next morning there were only eight of the men left alive, most had died during the night, either from eating proper meals or from the warmth. It sounded ironic but being in the conditions that they had been had made them vulnerable to even the simplest of things.  
  
One of the nuns had helped Ardeth and Alex into the kitchen when they refused to stay in their beds and gave them some broth. Only small amounts at first, over the next few days they could increase it and within a week, they should be back to eating normal food.  
  
The clothes that had been found for them were somewhat big and had to be taken in. they had lost so much weight. Father Shandor came running in when he discovered that they were not in bed and that some men had died. He was so glad to see them sitting there.  
  
"Ardeth, Alex thank God, I thought you were… how are you feeling?"  
  
"Better, it is heaven to feel warm again. I thought I was cold last time  
  
but this was continual cold, even though it is June it was still cold to us"  
  
said Ardeth.  
  
"The weather is warming up, about September it has gone the other way and can be too hot. You should get some more rest, come on back to bed"  
  
Ardeth agreed and walked back with the Father while Alex stayed in the kitchen and ate some more broth. Once the man was settled and asleep, the Father came back and spoke to Alex.  
  
"Come, let us walk in the grounds, it is safe there, the walls are twenty foot high"  
  
"How long are we going to be here?" asked Alex.  
  
"Only a few days then we shall go back to my monastery and then back to Egypt. If you want to tell me about that place it will help"  
  
Alex sat with the Father on the stone bench in front of the Mother Superiors window and related all that had happened to them since they were captured. Father Shandor wrote it all down, he had decided to write a document about it after the war. As Alex told his story, the Reverent Mother was listening at the window and tears rolled down her face as she heard the terrible things that had gone on in that camp and what these men had experienced.  
  
"I am worried about Ardeth" said Alex "after last time, there were things here that made him contemplate suicide on two occasions, me and Karl had to talk him out of it. Somehow, I managed to shut it out, Karl showed me how. Sometimes I let my guard down but, I know this sounds so hard and selfish, but I needed to survive somehow and not caring what happened to the others was the only way to do it. As long as it wasn't me, I didn't care. Forgive me Father"  
  
"There is nothing to forgive Alex, we all deal with things in different ways. It doesn't make you hard or selfish, it makes you a survivor and makes you stronger. I take it Ardeth couldn't do that"  
  
"No, he was fine on most things but when we had to work on the ovens and he saw all those people being burned, a few of them, you know, still alive, he broke down. I just hope he can cope this time"  
  
Father shandor knew Ardeth would make it this time. It would take time and a lot of help to get him to forget what he had seen and had to take part in. But he would in time. All they had to do now was get back to Egypt.  
  
There were rumours that the Allies were in Europe and the Germans were being driven back. Hopefully the war would be over in a few months time. Samuel had gone to get some transport to get them to Romania. Some of the resistance had found a way through that would mean that they would not encounter many Germans.  
  
By the time a week had gone by, some of the men had already left with other resistance members and that left Ardeth, Alex and Karl, who was getting over the pneumonia but still needed a lot of care. They were almost ready to leave and the nuns kissed them all and they thanked them for all the help that they had given since their arrival.  
  
"Ardeth are you okay, you've been very quiet the last couple of days" asked Alex.  
  
"I am fine, still tired and a bit weak but I will survive this. I have just some things I want to think through. Things that I have to get clear in my mind and decide what I am going to do about them"  
  
Alex wondered what he was up to but no doubt time would tell. Ardeth might have gone through hell in that camp, they all had but he was a determined man when he wanted to be and he had something up his sleeve. It would take a few weeks before he was completely fit again and regained some of the weight he had lost. But even now, Alex knew that look.  
  
As they drove towards the Romanian border, Alex thought of his parents and wondered how they were coping. They had heard nothing from them for months and no doubt would be worried sick. He was determined that as soon as they reached the monastery, he would try and get a message to them to let them know they were okay. 


	10. chapter ten

Chapter Ten  
  
It took them a month to get to Hunedoara and the Monastery. They had survived quite well, no major problems with the Germans or anyone else for that matter. Karl was almost to full fitness, Alex seemed to be fine but wouldn't talk about what went on at the camp. He was also very nervous and found it difficult to concentrate on anything for long.  
  
Ardeth was suffering from tiredness, nightmares, sleeplessness and almost constant headaches. Father Shandor hoped that once they arrived at the monastery the men would start to get better mentally. Physically they were on the mend but it would take a while to build up their strength and weight.  
  
The monastery was in quite good shape, it had taken a few bombings but the monks that were left there had done some remarkable work in restoring the damage. They were so glad to see the men back after so many months away. Brother Petri took them straight to the great hall and dished up hot food and drinks, while some of the others went and made up beds for them all.  
  
They were all exhausted and it didn't take long for them to retire to their rooms without even talking much to each other. Knowing they were safe was all that they cared about. The other monks didn't question anyone, next day would be soon enough to find out the details off Father Shandor.  
  
Alex, Karl and Father Shandor were asleep in minutes. Samuel fell asleep for a while and then woke up about 3am. He was hungry and went to find something to eat. He met one of the Brothers in the corridor.  
  
"Sorry I couldn't sleep, is it okay to go and get something to eat?" he asked.  
  
"Of course, come I will show where everything is. Your friend Ardeth is already in the study, he never went to bed. Take your food in there, it is more comfortable, the Father will not mind" replied the man.  
  
Once Samuel had got the food, he went into the study, to find Ardeth sitting at the desk, his head on his arms and looked like he had fallen asleep like that. The sound of the door made him jump up.  
  
"You startled me, couldn't sleep either" said Ardeth.  
  
"No, I was hungry, want some, there is enough for two here"  
  
Ardeth thanked him and rubbing his eyes took a sandwich and nibbled at it. Samuel knew something was bothering the man and so he asked him why he was there.  
  
"Samuel I just can't seem to settle. I'm on edge all the time, I can't sleep even though I am so tired and these headaches just don't seem to ease. I thought it would get better after all this time but it hasn't"  
  
"Ardeth, you know what happened to you last time and how long it took you to come to terms with it, why do expect it to be easier now. In some ways you have been through more this time. You have seen things that no man should have ever been witness to. Give yourself some time, try and get some sleep"  
  
"I wish I could, every time I try, the dreams come and then with it, the headaches. Please don't tell Alex, he has his own nightmares to cope with. I will be fine"  
  
Samuel didn't say anything else, he said goodnight and left the man sitting there. He would have a word with Father Shandor the next day and see if he could come up with anything to help Ardeth.  
  
Ardeth sat there and thoughts of those people kept coming back, the trains, the gas chambers and the bodies. How many had died in the time that he was there, he didn't know, it must have been thousands and for what. That was the one thing he couldn't answer, what reason did these men have for killing, no murdering all these innocent men, women and children.  
  
Oh God the children, how many of those had died, they had never grown up, seen the world, experienced the things that other people would in a lifetime. That was what was upsetting him the most and there were still kids there and arriving. How many would be dead before the war ended.  
  
It was July now and the rumours that the war would be over by the next spring were widespread. But that was eight maybe nine months away. Trying to stop thinking about it for a while his thoughts turn to Evy, how was she he wondered. He put his fingers to his lips and remembered the kiss as they left the dock that day. Why had he done that, he had never attempted to kiss her like that before and she seemed to like it. He never did speak to Alex about that, he should have apologized for kissing his mother in front of him. He would do it the next day.  
  
It was getting to the same stage as before, he had stayed awake so long that he was now awake and sleep eluded him altogether. Maybe that following night would be different but he doubted it. He would tell no-one, they didn't need to worry about him, they had their own problems. If asked he will tell them that he had slept after all.  
  
"Alex can I have a word with you" he asked the next day.  
  
"Of course what is it?"  
  
"It is more of a confession really. About your mother"  
  
"My mother, why, what have you done?" asked Alex puzzled.  
  
"When we left for Germany all those months ago, you remember I kissed Evy on the dock. I wanted to explain why but never got round to it. Either because I was busy or because I was worried about your reaction"  
  
"I remember, I thought it was nice and the look on her face was a picture. But why worry about what I thought?"  
  
Ardeth paced the floor, as he had done ever since they had got back. He had gone this far, he would have to tell him the truth.  
  
"I kissed her because I am in love with her. I have been for years and I just had this gut feeling that I would never see her again and didn't want to leave things unsaid. She never knew how I felt, she fell in love with your father and I would never break up a happy home for my own desires"  
  
Alex went over and stood in front of Ardeth, he thought he was going to get hit from the young man but instead, he was propelled onto a seat by the window.  
  
"Ardeth, I will tell you something now, even my mother doesn't know that I know. She and dad have been having major problems, he has left her. As I said she doesn't think I know, but I have friends who know dad and tell me what he has been doing. After Ahm Shere, there were many arguments, many days, weeks even where they didn't even speak to each other. I stayed out of it mostly, I was at boarding school for a while and then as I grew older, spent all my spare time with you. I couldn't bear to see her unhappy but there was nothing I could do. Then when I saw you kiss her like that, I thought at least she has someone who cares"  
  
"I never knew they were having those sort of problems. Where has he gone?"  
  
Alex got up and poured a coffee from the pot that one of the brothers had brought in. Handing a cup to Ardeth.  
  
"I don't really know, mum says on a dig, a friend says South America with the government. What are you going to do about this?"  
  
Drinking the coffee, Ardeth didn't answer for a while, his headache was coming back and he closed his eyes to the pain, making Alex become a little concerned.  
  
"Ardeth…are you alright?"  
  
"Yes…it's this headache it comes on out of the blue and with a vengeance. I don't know what I am going to do. The way I feel at the moment I don't want her to see me like this. She suffered enough the last time as you know, so did others, I can't put her through that again"  
  
A man came in and asked Alex if he would help him with something and leaving Ardeth by the window, told him he would see him later.  
  
"Go and lay down for a while, try and get rid of that headache" he said.  
  
Ardeth nodded but knew it wouldn't go now for many hours and he would have another night where he got no sleep. He would have to do something, he had been without sleep for about 3 days now and it was telling on him, plus he wasn't eating well either. He decided that he would go and lay down but it would only be for rest nothing else.  
  
Alex told the man he would be with him in a minute that he wanted to have a word with Father Shandor first. He went and knocked on the door.  
  
"Can I have a word Father?"  
  
"Of course Alex, come in. what can I do for you. Are you feeling better now?"  
  
"Yes a lot better, it will take a while for me to put this behind me, but I think I will be able to eventually. No it was not me I wanted to talk to you about, it was Ardeth. I am worried about him. He is not eating properly and definitely not sleeping. I was talking to him earlier and he seemed okay and then suddenly he got this terrible headache that made him turn rather pale. I told him to go and lay down but I don't know what else to do"  
  
"I have noticed he is not sleeping but I assumed it would come with time. I didn't know about the headaches. What you both have been through is going to take time and patience to get over, if you ever do. It will always be with you but you will learn to cope with it. Especially you, you are young and the young have a power to overcome problems much easier that us older ones. Ardeth is going to have a harder time than most, this is the second time he has suffered at the hands of these monsters and it is my fault this time. I should never have made him go back"  
  
Alex leaned forward in the chair and thought for a moment.  
  
"You didn't make him Father, it was his decision he knew what the dangers were and he decided that these people needed his help. That is the way he is, but no-one could have known what these camps were like, not many had survived to tell people about the horrors inside the wire"  
  
"Thank you, I know you are right, but it doesn't make me feel any less guilty. If he is not any better in the next day or so, I will get someone to talk to him, don't worry he will be fine"  
  
Alex thanked him and was about to leave when the Father called him back.  
  
"Alex, did you ever write to your mother and tell her that you were safe?"  
  
"I am in the middle of writing the letter now, why do you ask?"  
  
"Perhaps if she knew about the problems Ardeth is having, she might write to him. We can't leave for Egypt for at least another month, there is no ship to take us for another six weeks."  
  
Alex nodded, he would do better than that he thought, later.  
  
Later that day, Ardeth still couldn't sleep, the headache was worse and he felt sick. He had laid on the bed for several hours in the dark to try and shake off the pain but it hadn't worked. He decided to go and get something to drink to see if that would settle his stomach. Getting off the bed, he stood up and was suddenly hit by an excruciating pain in his head and he collapsed to the floor.  
  
All the work in the basement was more or less done. Alex and the other brothers cleaned up and went to the kitchen to get some food. There had been a lot of stuff to move back to where it should be after it had been put in there after the bombing. It was nearly midnight and they were all shattered.  
  
After eating Alex was going to see if Ardeth was okay but then decided that if he was asleep, disturbing him would be the worst thing to do, he would see him in the morning. He slept for about eight hours and getting up and washing, he went and knocked on Ardeths door. There was no answer so he opened it a little way to see if he was there.  
  
In the dim light of the room, he could see the man laying on the floor, shouting for help, he ran in and pulled open the shutters on the window, then knelt beside the man on the floor.  
  
"Ardeth, can you hear me…Ardeth"  
  
Father Shandor and Brother Saul came running in and saw Alex kneeling beside the man. The Father felt his wrist and looked at his eyes.  
  
"Get him on the bed, Brother Saul go and get the doctor in the village, quickly. This man is very ill"  
  
"What's wrong with Father?" asked Alex.  
  
"I have no idea at the moment, he is so cold, he must have been out for a long time"  
  
"I knew I should have come in last night but I thought I might wake him if I did"  
  
"It isn't your fault, we are all to blame for this, we should have realized how ill he was. Get some extra blankets from the other room, we have to get him warm. It might be July but he is freezing cold"  
  
An hour later they waited while the doctor examined Ardeth. He still hadn't woken up and they were worried. The doctor came back into the study after leaving Brother Saul with the man.  
  
"How is he doctor?"  
  
"Very ill, he has been through a terrible ordeal and his body has just shut down, to the memories, the pain and of course the lack of food and nourishment. No-one knows why this happens, I have only seen it once before."  
  
"But he hasn't come round yet, isn't that dangerous?"  
  
"Yes, it is and from what Brother Saul told me of what happened to him before, this was the last straw. Keep him warm, I have given him an injection of an experimental drug that should bring him round in the next few hours. After that, get him to drink and eat as much as he can, little and often and try and get him to talk about what happened, it will help"  
  
Alex was angry at the doctor and it showed. He stood up and had a right go at him.  
  
"Experimental drugs and you are using it on him. How do you know it is safe, it could kill him. Call yourself a doctor, you are just a…"  
  
"Alex that is enough" said Father Shandor "he is doing his best, none of us know what is wrong. The mind is a complicated thing, it effects people in different ways, all we can do is be there for him and hope he pulls through this"  
  
Alex knew the man was right and he apologized to the doctor.  
  
"That is okay, I know you are worried, we all are but there is no sign of disease or injury that could be causing this, the only thing left is his mind. He will get better but it could take a long time. He has…you both have seen things that no human being should have seen and experienced, even the strongest person would have problems. I will come back tomorrow unless there is any change for the worse"  
  
The Father showed the man to the door and one of the Brothers took him from there. Turning to Alex.  
  
"Alex, go and sit with him and talk to him, even though he is not awake, it could help, it did last time. I will be there in a while, there is something I have to do first"  
  
The man nodded and just before he went out of the door, gave a letter for his mother to him and asked if he could get it sent, however letters were sent at the moment.  
  
Father Shandor was glad he had the letter, he would be enclosing a letter of his own. There was one thing that might get Ardeth back on his feet. 


	11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven  
  
Two weeks had gone by and although Ardeth had come round a few hours after the injection from the doctor. He was still ill, not physically, the doctor had said that. It was a mental problem, the doctor called it a nervous breakdown, caused by the events of the camp.  
  
All they could do was be there for him and help him try and come to terms with it. He would never get over it, there was no way but with time he might be able to deal with it.  
  
He spent most of the time in the grounds, either sitting by the small fountain or walking by the trees. The weather was lovely at the moment, it always was in the summer months. He wasn't eating properly but picked at the food given him and he had cried a lot, although he did most of that when he thought no-one could hear or see him.  
  
Alex was well on the mend, he was young and although he would never forget what happened, he dealt with it a lot better. But then young people always did. He was putting on weight and his hair was growing back nicely. Within another couple of weeks no-one would have ever thought he had been in the camp. Except for the tattoo number on his arm, that would always be a reminder.  
  
"Father Shandor, why are you interested in the post the last few days and watching out of the window all the time. Are we in for some more trouble" he asked one morning.  
  
"Alex, come in here and sit down, I have something to tell you that I should have mentioned a couple of weeks ago"  
  
"What is it?"  
  
The Father sat on the sofa in the corner and Alex sat opposite him.  
  
"When Ardeth collapsed the other week and the doctor came out to him, you were writing to your mother were you not?"  
  
Alex nodded and told him that he had finished it quickly because of Ardeth. The man asked him if he had told Evy how ill Ardeth was. He shook his head.  
  
"Well I did, I sent the letter with yours, she would have got it the same time. I have asked her to write to him. This time I am not risking Ardeth going back there too soon, but he needs help and I think she could give it too him. What happened last time was physical but this time he has gone through a lot more, so have you. But unlike you, he can't put it to one side and get on with things. I wish he could."  
  
"If you asked her to write she will. I have problems with that place, but he is more sensitive than I am, he cares more than I do, about other people. I have always cared about myself in a way. I would put my life on the line for him and my family but I find it difficult to do that for other people who I don't know. Does that sound awful?"  
  
"Not at all, you are human. If people were honest I think most of us would do that. It was the children I think that effected him more than anything else. He will get better, but it will take time. I think in about another month and he could go back to Egypt."  
  
He told Alex that there were more rumours that the allies were advancing on Germany and hopefully the war would be over by the new year. That was only a few months away. Everyone in the monastery were told to watch over Ardeth but not to pressure him to talk about things, he had to do that himself.  
  
A few days later, an old truck arrived at the gates of the monastery and one of the brothers went out to see who it was. One of the other Brothers got off and then a woman. They went into the main gate and then she was led to the study where Father Shandor was writing.  
  
"Come in" he said as there was a knock on the door.  
  
"Hello Father" said a voice.  
  
He looked up and got the shock of his life.  
  
"My God…Evy…what are you doing here, how did you get here?"  
  
"I got your letter and the one from Alex. I made some inquiries and found a ship to bring me here and…well here I am" she said.  
  
"Please sit down, Brother John bring some tea and tell Alex to come to my study. Evy it is good to see you"  
  
"Father, I have to tell you something before Alex gets here. Rick has gone for good, that is one reason why I came here. I have to tell Alex somehow, he was his father after all"  
  
"I think Alex already knows that Rick and you are…how shall we say…not together any more. He guessed a long time ago, the arguments etc. he did talk to me about it."  
  
"MUM….oh wow, what are you doing here" shouted Alex running to give her a hug.  
  
"You look terrible Alex, what has happened to you?"  
  
He sat her down and Father Shandor left them to talk. He knew the young man had a lot to tell her and he didn't want to intrude. About half an hour later he went back and he could see Evy had been crying. He had ordered tea and food from the kitchen and went to sit beside them.  
  
"Mum knows everything, I have kept nothing from her" said Alex. "I couldn't, I have always tried not to lie to her"  
  
"How could those people do such things. It is awful, those poor people, why is he allowed to get away with it?"  
  
"Most people are scared to fight back" replied the Father "he will get his comeuppance one day soon and then he will only have God to answer to"  
  
"How is Ardeth, do you think he will ever get over this"  
  
"I don't know, but I was hoping that a letter from you might help but you coming here could be a miracle for him. He needs someone he can confide in and where Alex and the rest of us would be there for him, maybe a woman would be better"  
  
The man came in with the tea and Father Shandor asked him where Ardeth was. He told him that the man was asleep at the moment and did he want him to get him.  
  
"No, leave him, he won't sleep long, we will see him soon. Make sure he is okay though and just keep checking on him"  
  
The man nodded and Evy asked why they did that. He told her everything that had happened, even things that Alex did not know. She told him that she would have her tea etc and then she would go and sit with him and be there for when he woke up.  
  
"That would be a good idea, I will show where his room is but first I will show you where you can sleep. It will be a room next to Ardeth and across from Alex. They are only small rooms in the monastery but then we do not need material things. If there is anything you need please tell one of the brothers and they will get it for you"  
  
She thanked him and followed him to where Ardeth was sleeping and was shocked at his appearance even more than at Alex's. she had never seen him with short hair before and he looked so pale and thin. Sitting beside him, she took his hand in hers and watched him as he slept and wondered what he would say when he woke and found her there.  
  
Tears ran down her face as she looked at him, how could she help this man, she was having problems coping without Rick, the man she always thought would be there for her.  
  
"Evy…am I dreaming?" he said waking up.  
  
"No Ardeth, I am here. I came to see how you were, everyone is worried about you" she replied.  
  
She helped him sit up and he asked if Rick was there. She told him no and what had happened between them.  
  
"Anyway it doesn't matter how I am, how are you feeling?"  
  
"I don't know Evy, I really don't know. I am eating a bit better, but that is all. I feel tired but can't sleep, when I do, the dreams of that place haunt me and I wake up. That is it for the rest of the night. But mainly it's the headaches, they never seem to go."  
  
"If you want to talk, I'm here to listen Ardeth. Maybe if you talked about it, the dreams would go away."  
  
He sat there, his head in his hands and that was when she saw the extra tattoo, she asked him what it was. Looking down at it, his face went pale. He had forgotten about that and being reminded took him back to the camp. Suddenly he started shaking and his breathing got a bit quicker. Evy put her arms round him and pulled him against her and held him tight.  
  
"Shhhh, it's okay, you're safe now, nothing like that is ever going to happen to you again, I promise"  
  
She had no idea really what exactly had happened to him in that camp, but maybe he would tell her in his own time. His breathing calmed down but the tears started to flow and soon he was a sobbing wreck in her arms. Moving onto the bed and laying down beside him, she pulled him into her arms and he grasped her tightly as he sobbed into her shoulder.  
  
They must have laid there for a long time before he stopped and looking down, she saw that he was asleep, at least for a while.  
  
Getting him comfortable, she slipped out of the room and went to find Father Shandor. She needed to know some of what to expect if he did tell her what happened to him.  
  
"Thank you for telling me some of it" she said later "It gives me some idea why he is in such a state."  
  
"It is going to take a long time Evy, I want him to stay here for a while and then you can take him back to Egypt. I would think another week should be enough. I was going to make it longer but now you are here I don't think keeping him from home would help him"  
  
She left the Father and having something to eat, went out into the grounds of the monastery. It was lovely there and it seemed strange to think that only a few miles away, a war was being fought. As she sat there, Ardeth walked out and over to where she was.  
  
"Evy, please forgive me for earlier, I feel embarrassed about crying in front of you" he said.  
  
"Oh Ardeth, don't be silly, we all need that, it doesn't make me thing any less of you. Come, sit with me and talk to me. The more you do the quicker you will get better"  
  
He took a deep breath and sitting down on the bench, began to relate everything that had happened since they left Egypt. He hadn't wanted to before but something about this woman made him open up. As he talked, they got up and walked to this big oak tree and sat underneath it. It was about five hours before he finished and by that time Evy had tears streaming down her face. He turned to her.  
  
"Evy…oh God I'm sorry, I never thought about how this would effect you."  
  
"Don't worry about me" she sniffed "How anyone could have survived that I don't know. Those poor people and the children. Are they all dead?"  
  
"I would imagine that most are or soon will be. If they had just gassed them, I could have coped with that to a point, but to see them…to see the other things that they did to them…oh Evy…Alex saw it all too and worked with me, doing the jobs that they made me do. But he doesn't seem to be affected like me"  
  
"Ardeth, my son is young, okay is 19 but is still a baby as far as I am concerned. He hasn't got the qualities that you have, nor the experience of life. It may not hit him now but it will sooner or later, something will trigger the memories off and he will come down to earth with a bump. He may also be keeping it in to help you"  
  
The man moved round so that he could lay his head on Evy's lap, he didn't know why he did that, but it seemed natural and he needed to feel close to someone at the moment.  
  
Father shandor was watching from the window with Alex. He was pleased with the way it was going so quickly.  
  
"Your mother is a fine woman, he has talked to her for hours out there, something he hasn't done before. I am glad she came here and not written the letter as I thought she would. What about your father, did you know about that"  
  
"So am I. I knew my father and her weren't happy, they hadn't been for a long time. But I really didn't thought they might work it out. But I am not surprised he has gone, he had threatened to many times after Ahm Shere and even more after the last trip to Germany."  
  
"What about Ardeth and your mother, what if something comes of this?"  
  
"Well, as long as mum is happy again, I don't mind. I love Ardeth, I have since I was a child. He treats me like a son anyway, he never had one of his own. I am his second in command now and…yes it would be nice to see them together, I think"  
  
For another week they talked and Ardeth seemed to be eating and sleeping a lot better, especially when Evy was with him. He even had long talks with Alex which he hadn't done since their return to the monastery.  
  
"How are the headaches Ardeth?" he asked one morning.  
  
"Getting less and less, I feel stronger and I think I can put this behind me now. I will never be able to forget what happened but maybe I am not supposed to. What about you, how do you feel about me spending so much time with your mother, she has spent so little time with you since she has been here"  
  
"I am happy about it Ardeth. In fact I have never seen mother so happy, not since Ahm Shere. You never knew about the arguments that her and my dad had after we came back. She put on a front for you and anyone else that came round. But she was so unhappy and then dad started spending more and more time away from home, it didn't help that I was at the camp all the time but she didn't want me there with the rows. Even Uncle Jon left a couple of times but came back because of mum. I think you two are good together, she has certainly helped you in the last few days"  
  
They went into the building and walked to Father Shandors study, Ardeth had not really spoken to him since their return and he owed him so much again. Alex left them to talk.  
  
"I am glad you are better my friend, I wondered at one stage if you would ever get over this"  
  
"Yes, I am…coping with it…I will never get over it but there is something I want to discuss with you before I go back to Egypt on Friday" he said.  
  
"Of course, anything you know that. Wait before we settle down, we will have a bite to eat and a drink. I haven't done that with you for a while. Talking can wait for a while"  
  
Ardeth nodded and joined him at the small table in the corner and found he was quite hungry for once, which made the Father smile for the first time in ages at his friend.  
  
Then they retired to the two big armchairs that stood by the fire, which weren't alight at this time of year and he waited to hear what Ardeth had in mind. 


	12. Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve  
  
"Ardeth you are totally crazy. After everything you have been through, twice and you want to go back there. Why for Gods sake?"  
  
"I am not going back today. I am going back to Egypt first then I will go back to Germany. I have to. There are children there who have no parents, no relations what so ever, they are going to need someone to help them. They won't even have a home to call their own"  
  
"My friend wait till the war is over, they say it will be after xmas. The allies are advancing everyday. Hitler will be overpowered and then there will be peace."  
  
Ardeth got up and walked to the window. Outside Evy was talking to Alex and waved when they saw him standing there. He waved back and then turned to Father Shandor, who was looking rather worried.  
  
"Don't worry so much, by the time I have sorted out what I need to in Egypt, it will be xmas anyway. Then I will come back if you will have me here"  
  
"Of course you can come back here, anytime but what exactly are you going to do?"  
  
Ardeth explained that he was going to open an orphanage in Egypt for the children that would be left in the camps, if any of course. After what he had seen them do to the children he couldn't just walk away, not even after all he had been through.  
  
"I have to talk to Evy first and ask her something but then we will be going back, probably tomorrow. I will write and let you know when I will return."  
  
He left the Father and went to his room to change and then joined Evy in the gardens. He told her what he wanted to do. She looked shocked at first and then hugged him.  
  
"You are a wonderful man, never thinking of himself, always thinking of others, no matter what the consequences. I think it is a wonderful idea but shouldn't we wait till the war is over"  
  
"No, the longer we wait the more children will die. Between now and December there will be untold numbers dead and they will not be able to be saved but the rest, they will be given a chance. I have something else to ask you"  
  
"What is it Ardeth?"  
  
"I know you and Rick are finished and I am sorry about that in one way but in another, I am glad because it means I can ask you this question. Would you become my wife?"  
  
Evy almost threw herself at Ardeth and embarrassed him by smothering him in kisses, even if it wasn't very lady like.  
  
"Oh yes Ardeth, I would love to be your wife but will the Med-jai accept me, I will be a divorced woman and have another mans child"  
  
"Oh Evy, they will accept you, anyway, you forget your son is second-in- command, he is Med-jai. They will accept whoever I choose to be my wife"  
  
They spent the rest of the day talking and planning what they would do when they got back to Egypt. When Alex came back from a hunting trip with the brothers, which they did once a week, he was asked to go and talk to Ardeth.  
  
The man told him that he wished to marry his mother and was it alright and also about the orphanage he was going to setup.  
  
"Oh I am so pleased about you and mum. I am sorry that dad has gone but you never knew how bad it got, mum thought I didn't know but I did. That means I can call you dad now"  
  
"Oh no, I forgot that" laughed Ardeth winking at him.  
  
"But the other idea, it is good in theory but how are you going to get the children out, it won't be easy. Apart from anything else, we don't know where they will be. We'll never get them out of Auschwitz, you know the security there."  
  
"We will plan all that once we have the orphanage sorted out. I think we could bring back about fifty children. Anyway, I am going to get some sleep, we are leaving tomorrow for Egypt"  
  
Alex bid him goodnight and went to see his mother before he went to bed also. He would be glad to be back in Egypt even though he had enjoyed his stay at the monastery.  
  
Ardeth laid on the bed and gazed at the ceiling, he was putting on a good front for all of them. He didn't know if he would ever get over this, he dreaded going to sleep, the nightmares woke him so many times and during the day, the thoughts stayed with him. He was so tired that he was almost asleep on his feet.  
  
He had been ill from exhaustion not long ago because of this and if he didn't get some sleep soon, he would be again. If he could just hang on till he got back to Egypt, maybe things would be better there. He hoped so. At least he had persuaded Evy that he didn't want them doing anything till they were married. Not because he didn't want to, but if she spent the night with him she would find out his secret.  
  
Within two weeks they were back in Egypt and arrived in Cairo where Jonathan met them. He was shocked to see their appearance but they looked better than they did a few weeks ago.  
  
"Evy, where have you been, we have all been worried about you. Thought you were going away for only a few days. Glad to see you back ole mum" he said. "Ardeth, Alex, welcome back"  
  
"We are fine…now" she said "Let's go back to the house, we need some rest and something to eat. The food on that ship was terrible"  
  
It took a few hours for them to relate to Jonathan and Masala, who had arrived on hearing that they were due back today, all that had happened in Germany. He couldn't believe what they had been through and what was going on over there.  
  
They had heard tales of killings and tortures and about the death camps, but no-one knew how of it was true and how much propaganda. He was certainly glad that Ardeth and Alex were back. Ardeth went to bed, he was tired but hoped he would be able to sleep better now that he was back home. He left the others downstairs.  
  
"Is he serious about starting an orphanage here for those childred?" asked Masala.  
  
"Yes he is" replied Alex "and I support him totally. You couldn't even imagine what they did over there. Some were burnt alive, it was horrific. If it wasn't for Ardeth and Karl, I would never have coped out there. Trouble is while he was looking after me, no-one was looking after him and he is still suffering from that place."  
  
"What do you Alex?" asked Evy.  
  
"He tries to hide it but I know he doesn't sleep at night because of the nightmares. He had them while we were there. I was the one who held him at night and told him it would be okay, not knowing if what I said was true"  
  
"Alex why didn't you tell me" she asked.  
  
Alex got up and picked up another sandwich of the table and went and stood by the fireplace.  
  
"Because I knew he wouldn't want me too. I promised I wouldn't say anything till we got back here, at least to myself anyway. He is going to need a lot of help and I think this thing with the children, will do him more good than you could imagine. Mum, don't say anything to him, I am sure he will let you know when he is ready, he is very proud and very stubborn"  
  
Masala laughed and agreed with the stubborn bit, he could have told them many things about Ardeths stubbornness. He asked them where they proposed to have the orphanage.  
  
"The old lodge" said Evy.  
  
Masala looked puzzled and asked what on earth was the old lodge.  
  
"Sorry" said Evy "It is the big house right near to the pyramids. The one that no-one has lived in for years. I call it the old lodge, don't ask why. It is going for a song and with work, it will be ideal"  
  
Jonathan wanted to know who was going to do the work, as far as he was concerned the place needed pulling down and a new one build, it would be easier and cheaper.  
  
"I will get help somehow" said Evy. "We have till xmas to get most of it done and then Ardeth wants to go back then to get the children. I think it should be left till the spring. Father Shandor is convinced that the war will be over by then. I am not so sure and I don't want Ardeth to end up in one of those places again"  
  
"You will have all the help you need" said Masala "The Med-jai will be glad to do this. With the war going on even over here in places, it is hard for us to do what we do. It is too dangerous for us to go wandering round the desert as we used to. Once the war is over, then for us too it will be better"  
  
Evy thanked him and said that they would go and see about buying the place the next day. She knew who the owner was and it shouldn't be difficult, they would probably be glad to get rid of it. Masala said he would return to the camp that night and be back in the morning. He wouldn't be getting Ardeth to go back with him that night, he would leave him.  
  
Ardeth had told him to wake him as soon as he was ready to leave but they thought it best not to tell him. As it happened he had gone to sleep but it wouldn't be for long. About 2 hours if that and he was up again, the dreams invading his thoughts.  
  
All he could see were the ovens and the bodies, over and over again. Men picking up bodies and throwing them into ovens, the bodies that were not dead and then it started all over again. He sat on the bed, his head in his hands, trying to shut them out.  
  
He knew this would go on all night and he paced the room trying to get some relief from it, but to no avail. Everything he tried, failed and he ended up laying on the bed just giving in to it, watching the pictures in his minds eye, like the most horrific film every made.  
  
"Please…no more" he said out loud.  
  
By the time they had been back four days, Evy had purchased the house, more or less moved in and with the Med-jai were cleaning it from top to bottom before they started on the repairs.  
  
Masala and a couple of the others, looked very funny in their black robes covered in dust, cobwebs and plaster from the ceilings, with brooms in their hands.  
  
"Oh I wish I had a camera" said Evy one morning laughing at them.  
  
"Don't even think about it" said Masala.  
  
He looked at Ardeth, who was trying not to snigger and had to go and get something from outside to stop himself laughing. He had never seen them in such a state.  
  
Alex found him, leaning on the wall, rubbing his eyes before he went back in the house.  
  
"Ardeth…you're still not sleeping are you?"  
  
"Alex…how did you know?"  
  
"Come on, you haven't slept for several weeks for more than a couple of hours at a time. I have heard you pacing the floor for hours at a time. I never said anything, I hoped it would get better here, but it hasn't has it?"  
  
"No…I can't stop seeing those bodies, they haunt me at night and even during the day. I have tried everything, I am so tired. Please don't say anything to your mother"  
  
"She already knows, more or less, it told her when we got back but also said to leave it for a while and see what happens. Ardeth you have to deal with this somehow, or you are going to be ill again. No-one can cope with this on their own."  
  
He sat on an old crate by the corner of the house and looked at Alex.  
  
"How have you dealt with this Alex. You seem so calm and seem to have coped with it all"  
  
"I am not as strong as you think Ardeth. I had nights where I couldn't sleep, the same as you and I paced the floor. But then I started to write down all that I had seen and all that had happened to us. It helped. Maybe you should try that, it could help. You have to do something, you look really pale this morning"  
  
Ardeth said he would try that night if he couldn't sleep and promised that he would do something if that didn't work.  
  
For a week he did that very thing and wrote down everything from the very first thing that happened to him. Going back to the first time he went to Germany. Trouble was he was still not getting any sleep. The more he wrote the more he remembered.  
  
Evy noticed that he was getting paler and then one day he didn't go to the house at all. She asked Alex if he had seen him that day.  
  
"No, I haven't seen much of him all week to be honest. I told him that writing everything down might help him come to terms with what went on. I know he started doing that but whether it helped I don't know. I went to the camp for three days and he was doing something upstairs here when I came back. But I haven't seen him since yesterday afternoon"  
  
"I am going back to the house to see where he is, I'll take Masala with me. You know what they have to do here. I must admit I haven't really spoke to him for a couple of days, I have been trying to get this place ready"  
  
Alex said he would get all the things on the days list started and would see her when she got back. Getting in the car, Masala went with her back to the house.  
  
Ardeth had been writing for nearly twenty-four hours solid. He had locked his door to be alone and hadn't even eaten anything. So far he had filled two exercise books with his thoughts and memories. Then about 6am he sat back and read what he had written.  
  
Somehow it didn't seem to be him who had written it, it felt like someone else and he felt tears running down his face as he read what was one the pages. The stories in the book were horrific and he wanted to stop reading it but couldn't put it down.  
  
His mind was racing with thoughts and a headache was getting stronger and stronger. He couldn't fight any more and everything started to fade out as he collapsed, his head on the desk. 


	13. chapter Thirteen

These are the last four chapters of this story, at last.  
  
Chapter Thirteen  
  
Evy and Masala arrived at the house and went in to look for Ardeth. She said she would look in his room and see if he was there. Masala looked in the kitchen and then the lounge, finally the library but found nothing. Suddenly Evy shouted him and he ran upstairs to Ardeths room.  
  
"The door is locked and I can't get an answer. I know he is in there" she said.  
  
"ARDETH…ARDETH" he shouted through the door.  
  
"I'll have to break it in, sorry" he said.  
  
"Just do it, please"  
  
It took a few bashes with his shoulder but finally the door gave way and they hurried in. Ardeth was still slumped over the desk and his friends ran to his side.  
  
"Masala, get him over to the bed, I'll phone the doctor"  
  
Masala carried him over and laid him on the bed. He had no idea how long he had been out but he looked ill. Evy came back in and said the doctor would be there in a few minutes, he wasn't far away.  
  
"Ardeth, can you hear me?" she asked.  
  
There was nothing much they could do till the doctor arrived except cover him up and wait. While they waited, Masala picked up the book on the desk and read some of what Ardeth had been writing.  
  
"Oh my God" he said.  
  
"What…what is it?" Evy exclaimed.   
"It's this book…it looks like Ardeth has been writing down all that happened to him in Germany. If this is what he has been going through, then no wonder he is so ill"  
  
Evy took the book and read some of it, tears formed in her eyes and putting it down, she went over to Ardeth and took his hand in hers.  
  
"Oh sweetheart, why didn't you tell me. I could have helped you…somehow"  
  
There was a knock on the door downstairs and Masala went down to answer it. He came back with the doctor and they explained what they thought had happened.   
  
"Okay, you go and make some tea and let me examine him. I will be down shortly" he said.  
  
After Evy had made the tea, her and Masala sat down at the table to wait for the doctor to finish. When he came down about fifteen minutes later, he told them that he had given the man an injection and he would come round soon.   
  
"What is wrong doctor?" she asked.  
  
"Exhaustion, no appetite, headaches, nightmares. You know he came to see me last week"  
  
"No, he never said anything" replied Evy.  
  
"He sat with me for quite a while and told me about some of the stuff that happened in Germany. I told him then, if he didn't talk about it, this is what would happen. You see it is the second time he has been treated like this by the Germans in a year. No-one can take that sort of punishment. I expect to see a lot more of this before this war is over"  
  
"So how can we help him. You know he wants to go back there and get the children out" said Masala. "He has started writing down all that he went through"  
  
"That sounds like Ardeth and the book is a good idea. He told me that your son had suggested it too him. It will help but so will talking. I have know Ardeth all his life, he is a stubborn man, but very courageous and determined that nothing will stop him doing anything. That is his problem, he will not give in and he has to. Or this will happen again. I will check on him before I go but the rest is up to you. I will also leave some stuff so that he can get some sleep"  
  
Evy poured him a cup of tea and they sat at the table for a while. He had said that the injection would take a while to work and then they could go up. He could get up when he was ready as long as he took it easy and started to eat properly.  
A bit later that night, Evy went to sit with Ardeth who was still sleeping after taking a couple of sleeping pills. She picked up the book he had been writing and started to read it properly. She was in tears before she had even read ten pages.  
  
"Hey are you alright?" a voice said later.  
  
She had finished reading the book and was just sitting in the chair, tears still rolling down her face and was looking out of the window. She jumped at the sound of Ardeth speaking to her.  
  
"Sweetheart…yes I think so…I was reading your book…oh Ardeth why didn't you tell me everything, why did you keep all that pain to yourself?"  
  
"I didn't know how to tell anyone, some of it I spoke of but the rest was too painful, even for me to come to terms with. It always will be. But Alex told me he had written everything down and it had helped him, so I did the same thing. Trouble was I didn't realize how ill I had become from the lack of sleep. I'm sorry Evy"  
  
She went over and sat beside him and pulled him into her arms. He snuggled down, his head on her chest and allowed her to brush his hair with her hand, just like Alex did those cold, scary nights in the camp. Just before sleep claimed him again, her heard her tell him she loved him. For the first time in ages, he had no nightmares.  
A few days later, he still wasn't well but a lot better than he had been and was eating a bit better and certainly sleeping better. It would take time but he would be okay.   
They were almost finished with the house and it looked good. Alex had made them all lunch and they were eating it in the grounds at the back of the house when there was a knock on the front door.  
  
"I'll get it" said Alex jumping up.  
  
They all got a shock when he came back with an old friend in tow.  
  
"Father Shandor…what are you doing here?" asked Ardeth.  
  
He jumped up and hugged the man who had saved his life at least twice in Germany and thought he was still there. The Father hugged him back and then Evy.  
  
"I am glad you could come" she said "I knew you wouldn't mind helping us for a change"  
  
"You asked him here?" said Ardeth.  
  
"Yes, she has told me of some hairbrained plan of yours to go and bring the children from the camps here. I had to come to find out why?"  
  
Ardeth explained to him that he had to do something to help these people. He had seen enough in the camps to last a lifetime and while he knew he couldn't help them all, if he could help some he would be pleased.  
  
"But how are you going to get them out, don't tell me you are thinking of going back there. After all that happened"  
"That is where you come in" said Evy "We need your help to do it. They reckon the war will be over by the spring, we have to save some of the children, somehow"  
  
Father Shandor looked at them and knew they meant everything they said. He wandered round the lawns for a while and then came back. They thought that he was going to say forget it but he didn't.  
  
"Okay, I can see only one way. Yes the war is being lost in Germany and some of the camps have been liquidated. But in some cases that is worse for the people in them. They are being put in what is called death marches, not a lot of people know about these but we have seen two of them"  
  
"What on earth is a death march?" asked Alex.  
  
"Just what it says, they are marched out of the camp, on the road for days on end, on route to another camp where they will be housed till the end of the war. But thousands are dying on these marches, because of illness, hunger, beatings, shootings. Maybe, just maybe, we could rescue the children from one of these marches. But it would be dangerous and need planning. We can't just go in there, grab the children and leave. We would need the resistance to help, a train or something to bring the children out, guns, ammunition.  
  
"Okay so when can we get it sorted out" asked Evy "and when can we leave"  
  
Ardeth got up and walked across to Father Shandor and put his hand on his shoulder.  
  
"Count me in, I am going back" he said.  
  
"No way, you are not going back there" she said "You are not well enough and…."  
  
"Evy, I have to go, I have to put some of these ghosts to rest and the only way I can do that is to get these children out. You are not going though, it is no place for a woman"  
  
An argument ensued on who was going and who was staying. No-one was winning it either. In the end the only way they could be shut up was by Alex fired a pistol into the air. That certainly got their attention.  
  
"For goodness sake, listen to yourselves. There is no need for all this. Father Shandor, when do you want to leave?"  
  
"Well, I have a passage booked on the ship taking cargo there, the day after tomorrow. So yes, day after tomorrow"  
  
"Okay, then we you leave, we either all go with you or we all stay here. Me, Ardeth, my mother and Masala. People are going to worry whoever stays or goes. So that is that. Solved."  
  
No-one said anything, they were all surprised by Alex and his forceful nature all of a sudden. They had no choice but to agree. Ardeth was pleased with his solution although he would have rather Evy stayed behind.  
  
"I am proud of you Alex" he said "You are becoming a good Med-jai, one day you will have your own tribe and I can see that day is not far away"  
  
"Thank you Ardeth. You have been a good teacher and a good friend and soon a father to me, I hope"  
  
"Do not forget your real father Alex. Your parents may not be together any more and I will be making Evy my wife but he is still your father and always will be. Never forget that. I will not take his place"  
  
Alex nodded his understanding and walked out to go and pack for the journey. Ardeth hoped that it would work for him but he could not help but have his doubts. Evy went over to him.  
  
"Are you alright?" she asked kissing him.  
  
"Yes, I feel much better but I have to do this, you understand I hope."  
  
"Of course, but please, no heroics or taking any risks this time. We go in, get the children and get out" 


	14. Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fourteen  
  
Two weeks had gone by and they were all in Romania, again. But things looked different this time. There was hardly any sign of German troops, they had all retreated back towards Germany as Russian Allies were advancing into Germany and liberating towns and cities on their way. It would still be a while before they and the Americans coming from France would meet up and the war would be over. There would still be a lot of killing and it would be just as dangerous for them.  
The resistance had managed to aquire a train, nobody asked how and they had their own people running it. The plan was to go from Szegad in Hungary, to Budapest, up to Zilina, branch off at Ostrava and on to Theresienstadt, where there was a lot of children. However on the way they would pass some death marches and if they could they would pick up children from there.  
  
"Are you ready for this Ardeth?" asked Alex "You look...I don't know..."  
  
"Scared?" said his friend "I am. Probably for the first time in my life, I am scared to do this but I have to. Too many children have died because of this war and after what I saw at Auschwitz, I can't let any more die than neccessary."  
  
"But you think you can save them all, you can't, we will be lucky if we get fifty out. Some of us will die trying, we all know that. You have to be realisitic"  
  
"I am being realistic Alex. I know we can't save them all but a few...God we have to save a few"  
  
He leant on the table, his head down. Alex went over and put a hand on his shoulder. He knew some of what his friend was going through but no-one could know all of it. They were leaving the next day for Szegad, where they would meet the resistance train. Ardeth looked at Alex and nodded, then walked out of the room.  
  
"Father Shandor, I need to ask you something" said Evy.  
  
"Go ahead, what is it you wish to know?"  
  
"I don't know much about your religious order but are you allowed to marry people?" she asked.  
  
"Yes, i have that previledge, why do you ask?"  
  
She went and sat down on the chair by the fire and leant forward.  
  
"I want you to marry me and Ardeth before we go on this journey. If anything happens to either of us, I want us to be married. Would you do it?"  
  
Father Shandor took her hands in his and smiled.  
  
"Yes my child, if that is what you and Ardeth want, I will marry. I take it you wish it to be today"  
  
She said yes and thanking him went off to find Ardeth. She hoped he would agree. it wasn't exactly what he would have wanted but they could do it again when they returned to Egypt, if they returned. She found him in the grounds of the monastary.  
  
"Ardeth, I have had a word with Father Shandor and if you agree, he will marry us today. Let me finish. If by any remote chance, we don't make it back, I want to die as your wife."  
  
"Evy, we will make it back, you don't have to do this" he said.  
  
"Ardeth, I love you. i didn't think I could love anyone as much as I did Rick. In a way I still love him but we have gone to far in opposite directions to make it work. I want to be your wife, I love you so much, please say yes"  
  
Ardeth took her in his arms and kissed her, saying he would be glad to marry her that afternoon. But he wanted a better wedding when they got back, with the Med-jai being there. She agreed and they went off in search of Alex and told him what they intended to do. They still were not sure he would except them being together but he assured them that he wanted it.  
  
"I love dad, I always will but I know it was finished between you two a long time ago. I want you and Ardeth to be happy, please. I will have the perfect family then"  
  
By 4pm, they were husband and wife. Everyone there were pleased to have a wedding before they embarked on their journey. There would be no time to have a party, they would have to leave at 5pm, to reach Szegad by 6am the next morning.  
Gathering all the stuff that they wanted to take with them, they got into the trucks that would take them over the border. It should be safe enough until they got on the train. They would be seen and heard for miles and would have to be on the alert 24hours a day.  
  
"Is this it?" said Alex "Are you sure this is going to blend in?"  
  
They thought the resistance were going to get an ordinary, small train but instead they had aquired one that had ten carriages. No wagons that people would be used to seeing but an ordinary passenger train.  
  
"This will be better. Any soldiers will assume it has ordinary passengers on board. Some of our people will be sitting in the carriages so that they can be seen. If we had one with the wagons, soldiers would be stopping us every few miles and it would be too dangerous" said Emile.  
  
He was the head of the resistance and showed them onto the train and to where they could put their things. Only one carriage had been altered in any way. It had been stripped of the seats and canvas beds put in so they had somewhere to sleep. A galley had been put at one end, only the basics but something they needed. At the other end were crates that contained guns, ammo, grenades and dynamite.  
  
"Do we need all that?" asked Evy.  
  
"We could end up using all of it if we run into trouble. We have to be prepared for anything. Now we leave in ten minutes and have to try and keep to the timetable that has been given us. Our people will be at the points and junctions, so that we should be on time for Theresienstadt and arrive there in five days barring any snags"  
  
"Father Shandor said there could be some death marches on the way there, where do you reckon they could be?" asked Ardeth.  
  
"Well I think there could be oone or two about here, near Ostrava. If there are then we are going to have to be extra careful and may have to stop for a while. If this happens, I have a man who will go one foot to warn the others"  
  
Father Shandor came in and heard what they were saying. He looked at the map and and then turned to Emile.  
  
"Is there any way we could get some of the children away from the marches without putting ourselves in danger?"  
  
"No way, there will be soldiers guarding them all the way. It would be impossible to get any of the children away without the parents or friends helping them giving the alarm. Some will not let them go easily"  
"But we have to try" said Ardeth "We have to try"  
  
He walked out of the carriage and into the next one. He was nervous and Evy had heard him pacing again at night when they had stopped. She went after him while Father Shador explained to Emile what had gone on.  
  
"If he tries to get any children from the death marches, he could get us or himself killed. It will virtually impossible to do that. You must persuade him not to do anything stupid"  
  
"I will talk to him, but I doubt if I can change his mind" said Father Shandor.  
  
"You have to. Our lives are at stake if he doesn't listen" 


	15. Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Fifteen  
  
About 2am, Alex was woken by someone moving about in the next carriage. He looked around and in the dim light he could see that Ardeth wasn't in his bed. He assumed that he couldn't sleep again. Getting up, he walked into the other carriage to see what he was doing.  
He was surprised with what he saw, Ardeth was dressed and had on all his swords and was just getting some of the knives that we in the crate by the grenades. He jumped when Alex spoke.  
  
"Ardeth what are you doing?"  
  
"Shhh…I am going to see if I can get any of the children away from that group that have settled over the hill for the night. Obviously it is not for their health that they have stopped but because the guards are tired"  
  
"You can't go alone and Emile said it would be near impossible to get any of them away without risking their or our lives. Come on, we'll get some from the camps on the way"  
  
"No, I am doing this now, if you want to come, then do so but if not, please go back to bed. I will be fine"  
  
Alex knew that Ardeth would not change his mind, so he told him to wait there while he got dressed. Ardeth nodded and told him not to be long. After getting dressed Alex went and roused two of the other men and told them what they were doing.   
  
"He is mad, he will get killed or get us all killed. He must be stopped" whispered one of the men.  
  
"It is no good, he will go with or without us, I would prefer it if you came with us. If there is any way of getting the children away from there, we will need you to explain to the adults"  
  
The men agreed after a fashion and followed Alex into the carriage where Ardeth was waiting. They should have told the other people but thought it would be best to go alone, it might be safer if they were caught. However, Alex left a note for Evy, just in case.  
  
"You are stubborn Ardeth and we do not agree with what you are doing. But we will come with you, just to cover your back" said Pierre.  
  
They crept out of the train and onto the track, then crawled under it to the other side. Then they crawled across the embankment and up the hill to the top, so that they could see exactly where the people were. The Germans had got them in small groups at about hundred yard intervals, with only one guard to each group. They didn't need any more, the people were too weak to ever attempt to overpower the guard and anyway, they would be dead as soon as they moved.  
  
"Look, there is a group right in front of us, the guard looks asleep. I will see to him" said Ardeth.  
  
He crawled down the hill, through the undergrowth and with a knife, killed the guard where he lay. Then the others came down the hill and Pierre moved over to where the people were. He was there for about ten minutes before coming back to the others.  
  
"Most of the adults are either dead or dying, either from hunger and torture or from typhoid. The children are not much better. I have explained to them what we are here for and that we cannot take them but we can take the children. They will talk between themselves, I have to go back in a few minutes and get their answer. We can't just take them, they would create a fuss."  
  
"What if they say no?" asked Alex.  
  
"Then we will have to think of something else and leave them to their fate. It is too dangerous to just snatch the children. We would have the whole guard patrol down on us"  
A few minutes later, Pierre went back to the group and got their answer, all the while keeping a look out for any German soldiers that might be walking round just keeping an eye on everything. They weren't too bothered about the prisoners really, if they died, it would be one less for them to shoot along the way.  
  
"Well, what do you want to do?" he asked one of the men.  
  
"We have agreed to let you take them. All of us are going to be dead soon, we are too weak to fight this disease. But if one of our children can survive this war, we will die happier" said the man.  
  
"Okay, get them all over this side of the group, as quietly as you can, then we will take them, one by one up the hill and over to the train which is about a quarter of a mile away. We will look after them and try and make sure that they survive"  
  
He took one of the children with him and then sent Alex down to get the others, one by one. It took them about half an hour to get twenty children over the hill and onto the train. By this time Evy has seen the note and told the others. Emile was fuming.  
  
"He will get us all killed, there is no way that the people will let their children go as easily as…what is that?"   
  
He ran to the door with a gun ready to use if necessary. Pierre came through the door first with one of the children, followed by the others. Evy and two the men took the children through to the other carriage. Ardeth was the last to come on board, he carried a baby of about five months old.  
  
"You lot are out of your minds, you could have been killed…"  
  
"But we got some of them" replied Pierre "Twenty I think, some are ill with typhoid though, we will have to isolate them from the others. There was no trouble whatsoever, the guards are not interested, the one we killed was asleep"  
"Okay, okay, but next time please ask me first. We will leave as soon as the column has left in the morning" he said.  
  
"No" said Ardeth.  
  
"What do you mean no, we have to leave to get to the camp" replied Emile.  
  
"There are other children in those groups, if we can get them, we won't have to go to the camps."  
  
"He does have a point" replied Pierre "The man I spoke to said that there were about seventy-five children altogether in the march. We never intended to take more than about a hundred back to Egypt. We could do it, then just take the train back to Romania"  
  
Emile paced the floor, going over what the two men had said. It was going to be light in about three hours, and then they would have to leave, one direction or the other. Evy came back with Father Shandor, the children were with the other members of the group and they had heard what was being said.  
  
"Let us look at it logically" said Father Shandor "You have spoken to the man, he will no doubt have passed the message on that someone is here to get the children out. We could be back in Romania in the same time as it took us to get this far. That way we don't get to far into occupied territory."  
  
Finally Emile agreed and they decided that Father Shandor and Evy, plus three of the men would stay with the train, while the others went and got the rest of the children. First they got the man who they had spoke to, to go with them and explain to the others what was going on. He told them that the word had been passed around already and the children were being got ready to leave.  
  
"We will have to go to each group of people, do you know how many groups there are?" asked Emile.  
  
"There are ten groups, there are always ten groups, that way the soldiers have only about fifty people to watch and we are so weak, he wouldn't have a problem any more. We have given up on life now, don't worry about us, my friends"  
  
"So how many guards would there be here?"  
  
"I have seen fifteen soldiers, that is all, one for each group and the rest at the front of the column."  
  
They took him with them, he was stronger than some of the others and didn't have the disease, plus he had no-one from his family left, he didn't care if he got killed helping them.   
  
"Please just worry about the children, leave us some knives and things and we will see to the guards and either take our chances or make our own way to the camp. There are not many of them and we will bid our time, we might do it tonight or tomorrow night, but we will get away, don't worry"  
  
"We will do it your way" said Ardeth "We will leave you some bread and water, we will leave it on the other side of the hill."  
  
After that they got on with the task of getting the children back to the train. Everything was going well, until one of the soldiers saw what was going on. He fired his rifle into the air and then all hell broke loose.   
They were on the last group but one and suddenly bullets were flying everywhere as the guards tried to kill whoever moved.  
  
"Grab the children and run" shouted Emile "We will try and hold them off"  
  
Ardeth and Alex ran with some of the children up the hill, shots rang out and two of the children fell. Alex checked them and found that they were dead, suddenly he felt a burning pain in his arm as a bullet hit him.   
  
"Run…go on…get out of here" he shouted.  
  
He used his good arm and fired at the soldiers, killing two of them. The other men were doing better and killed another five. Then one of the soldiers shouted.  
  
"We surrender, stop firing" he shouted dropping his gun.  
  
Within minutes, the rest of the soldiers, about five of them, were being held at gunpoint by the people. They would deal with them later.  
  
"We will be okay now, I hope. Go on get out of here, take the children back to your country. Maybe one day, we may meet again"  
  
Ardeth gave him a piece of paper that said where the children would be after the war.  
  
"If any of you get through this, you will find them here" he said.  
  
They thanked all the men for helping their children and then watched them go over the hill. The food was brought down and they watched them share it out as they left. Alex was waiting at the train for the others, his gun still aimed and then he saw them walking back. He saw Ardeth run towards him and then nothing.  
  
"ALEX…." shouted Ardeth.  
  
He saw the younger man, leaning against the train, with his gun raised as he came down the hill, then he saw the gun lower and the man grab his other arm. He guessed he had been shot and ran to him, just as he passed out. Carrying him onto the train, Ardeth and Emile laid him on one of the beds.  
  
"It is only a flesh wound. We'll clean it up and then he can rest. He will be fine in the morning"  
  
Evy would sit with him till he woke up and then let him rest. Ardeth spoke to Father Shandor.  
  
"How many did we get after all?"  
  
"There are sixty-eight children on board and Emile is starting the engine up and in a couple of hours we will be off. We did well tonight and saved ourselves a lot of problems by not going to the camp. Sometimes your stubborn behavior pays off" he said with a smile. "They are all sleeping I think and the men are looking after them. They will need feeding and looking after with more care for a while but I think they will be fine"  
  
Suddenly Emile came in followed by six of the adults from the group. The others looked puzzled and thought that they might have changed their minds about the children.  
  
"These people want to go with us. They are the strongest and have not got typhoid and think that it would be a good idea if the children had people they knew with them. What do you think?"  
  
"I think it would be a great idea, but why only six?"  
  
"There are one hundred and fifty people left now and most of them are too weak to travel or are too ill. The rest are too old. Josef, the man you spoke to, picked us to go with the children as we haven't been prisoners for that long and are the strongest. Would you let us come with you?"  
  
Father Shandor said it would perfectly okay for them to go and were they sure that no-one else wanted to come. Somehow they would take them if they wanted to go. But the man of the group said no, that this was their decision.  
  
An hour later the train moved off, back the way it had come and they would be in Szeged in about a day and then they would be fairly safe at the monastery.  
  
"I feel sorry about the others being left behind" said Evy "Surely we could have brought them with us"  
  
"No, if most of them are too ill because of typhoid, then we could spread it even further. We have a few cases with the children but they are not too bad and should be well in a few days. Those people know the score and that is why the six were chosen to go with us"  
  
"We had to make sacrifices mum" said Alex.  
  
"What are you doing up, you should be resting" she said.  
  
"I'm fine, it aches a bit but it will soon heal. We did well tonight, just think of the children we have got, they will live through this now. Those people knew they couldn't come when they gave up the children in the first place. I am sure a lot of them will survive and come looking for us one day. Come on, let's get something to eat and go home" 


	16. Chapter sixteen

Chapter Sixteen  
  
The group of friends made good time and were back in Egypt within two weeks. Alex's arm was better, as were the children. They still needed feeding up and they were really glad that some of the adults had come with them. They had had a few problems with the children at first and they calmed the situation down.  
Then came the problem at the docks, of getting all the children back to Cairo and to the house. Father Shandor had come with them but the other resistance people had stayed in Romania. He went and had a word with one of the old bus drivers that sat on the quay and after paying him, they loaded the children on board and drove to Cairo.  
Ardeth seemed to be his old self and was loving the attention that the children were giving him. They seemed to take to him as soon as they saw him and he had a job getting any peace all the way home. But he didn't seem to mind. They were taking his mind off all the other memories.  
  
"Well, here we are. This is to be your new home, at least for the time being" said Evy.  
  
The children ran into the place after one of the men explained to them that this was where they were going to live. Evy was shocked at the place, the Med-jai had finished it off while they were away, furniture had been put in place, things on the walls and the kitchen was packed with food and utensils.  
  
"Masala, oh you wonderful man, this is fantastic, thank you"  
  
She kissed him and hugged him, then went round and looked at all the things. Ardeth and Alex came in and the men shook each others hands in welcome.  
  
"So how are you Ardeth, are things any better?" Masala asked.  
  
"I feel a lot better, these children have done wonders for me and they like me, why I don't know but they do"  
"You have no idea what a wonderful man you are, do you?" said Evy.  
  
"I am nobody special" he replied "By the way Masala, me and Evy were married in Romania but I want a traditional Med-jai wedding during the next few weeks. Would you do me the honour of arranging it"  
  
"I would be pleased Ardeth. It will be a grand affair, we have waited a long time for the day when you took a wife" he said.  
  
They all went out on the verandah and watched the sun set over the pyramids and the children came out to see as well. They had never seen anything like them before and they just sat there in awe of the scene in front of them.   
  
"I am glad we went and brought them out Ardeth. I love you" said Evy.  
  
"And I love you too. But it looks like we have a large ready made family to take care of."  
  
Alex came and joined them and they sat there until it was dark before going inside. Life would get better for all of them. The war would be finished in a few months and if possible, some of the families may come and claim their children, if not, they would grow up and be educated in Egypt and then they could decide what they wanted to do when they were older.  
  
(I may do a follow up to this at a later date) 


End file.
